Undercover
by Cleargold
Summary: G1. Starscream is abandoned and left for dead following a firefight with the Autobots. What will he have to do to survive, and how will it change his life? And what is Optimus Prime up to, anyway? StarscreamxChromia. Chapter 12 is finally ready!
1. Chapter 1: Abandoned

_**Undercover**_

Cleargold

**Chapter 1: Abandoned**

_A/N: Not having read any of the fanon at the time I started writing, I dreamed up a completely different version of sex for the Transformers. The story wouldn't work without this, so please hop onboard for the ride!_

_Rating:__ M _

_Warning:__ Contains some violence, language, and adult themes._

_Genre:__ Hurt/comfort/Romance with some mech/femme activity. _

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own some OCs that appear later on._

_Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Mirage Shinkiro for betaing for me, and Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud. _

_Summary:__ G1. Starscream is abandoned and left for dead following a firefight with the Autobots. What will he have to do to survive, and how will it change his life? And what is Optimus Prime up to, anyway? _

"Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime!" Starscream could hear his voice fading. He lifted his head off the ground to peer at Optimus Prime, but the sky and the land somersaulted. It disoriented him so much that he thought the rock outcrop under which he lay was threatening to collapse on him. He flopped back on the ground, turning his head so he could see the Autobot leader. "Help me –"

He didn't think Optimus had heard him, but then he turned towards him. "Starscream?"

"Yes," he mumbled. It felt as if he'd been calling out for groons without a response. The crags and forest which had been their battlefield were almost empty now, since the wounded Autobots had been collected and the uninjured had already left. "It's me."

Optimus surveyed him. "What's the problem, Starscream?"

"They left me for dead," he hissed. "How _dare_ they!"

"The Decepticons?"

"Who else?"

"Can't you call them and ask them to come back for you?" Optimus stood watching him through narrowed optics, body rigid. His battle mask obscured his expression but his tone was reluctant, and for a moment Starscream wondered if he'd miscalculated his chances of rescue.

"My radio's smashed." Starscream made a gesture towards the shards of his cockpit glass, the burns around the area. Even to him the damage looked bad, and the pain – the electronic _wrongness_ – of his injuries made his dizziness worse. He hated having to ask, but he'd run through all the possible options and couldn't see any other way of getting the help he needed to survive. _Surely his compassion will make him help me! _With an effort of will he set aside his pride and asked, "Can – can you call them for me?"

"Hhhh. What's the frequency?"

Starscream hesitated, then told him. They'd have to change it now; Megatron wouldn't be pleased. He scowled. _They shouldn't have left me behind!_

"This is Optimus Prime calling Megatron." Optimus waited a few astroseconds to see if an answer was forthcoming, then repeated the call.

"This...is Megatron. Why are you calling? How did you get this frequency?" There was a pause, then Megatron barked, _"How did you get this frequency? Answer me!" _

Prime ignored him. "Haven't you forgotten something? Or rather, someone?"

"What?"

"I've got Starscream here, complaining that you left him for dead –"

When Starscream heard the growled reply: "You mean – he wasn't?" his resentment rose again.

"He's very much alive, but badly hurt, and he's not happy at just being abandoned here –"

"Well, if it means so much to you, fix him up so that he can get home!" Starscream remembered seeing smoke and flames gouting from Megatron's side just before the explosion that had hurt him. He still sounded annoyed, but his speech was slower than usual, his voice hoarse with pain. "_I_ haven't got anyone I can send right now." Another pause. "Of course, if you don't want to take him with you, you could always leave him where he is!"

"_Megatron!_ You can't _do_ this to me!" _Especially not when I've just got Prime's attention, _Starscream thought.

"What about Thundercracker? Or Skywarp? Or Astrotrain."

"Being repaired, as we speak." After a nanoklik's pause, Starscream was surprised to hear Megatron add, "You really messed us all up this time, Prime."

Optimus Prime hesitated, then replied, "All right. We'll take him with us and fix him up, but he comes as our prisoner, for as long as we care to hold him."

"Fair enough."

"_What?"_ Starscream shrieked.

"And you owe me."

"Hmm." There was a short pause again, presumably while Megatron considered that one. "O_kay_." He sounded grudging.

"How _dare_ he? Me, a prisoner?"

Optimus cut the connection. "If you want to be repaired, we can do that, but you'll have to wait until everyone else has been patched up. For that time you'll be our prisoner," Optimus explained. "When Wheeljack and Ratchet have time to fix you up, you can go home." He paused. "Of course, if that isn't to your liking you could always just stay here and wait for your pals to rescue you. But from what I observed, and what Megatron just told me, you might have to wait a while..."

"I can't!" Starscream objected. "I'm low on energon and –"

"Then calm down and get in my trailer. Ratchet and I have a few wounded to take home – you can ride with them."

_I suppose he wants me where someone can observe me,_ Starscream thought. Aloud he said, "I can't get up. I'm really dizzy. An explosion knocked out my equilibrium chip, and damaged my navigation system and gyros."

"You can't walk at all?"

Starscream shook his head, then wished he hadn't when the sky and ground somersaulted again.

"You do look pretty terrible." Optimus nodded. "Ironhide!"

"Optimus?"

"Help Starscream get into my trailer. He's coming with us." Optimus transformed, picked up the trailer and backed up towards Starscream.

Ironhide walked over to Starscream. His reluctance was plain in his hesitation and slow movement towards him. "Come on, then," he rumbled at last, and supported him upright. "I hope you appreciate this."

"I...do." But Starscream didn't think Ironhide looked convinced.

Nevertheless, Ironhide helped him scramble into the trailer. Tracks and Hoist shifted over to make room for him.

He sank to the trailer floor, reeling. He didn't want to make optic contact with any of the Autobots, and a couple of conversations had ceased abruptly when he struggled aboard, so he just stared up at the grey roof. He compressed his lips together as they rounded a bend; road travel, which he wasn't used to anyway, made the disorientation worse.

By the time they pulled up, he was truly incapable of moving. As the others clambered, crawled or were lifted out, he just lay there, listless and withdrawn. When the robot arm swung him out he was barely conscious, and at first didn't really register that he was in the control room of the _Ark_.

"Starscream?" Wheeljack's voice. "Why are _you_ here?"

"Equilibrium chip," he muttered. His fingers snagged on the smashed cockpit glass, bringing jolts of pain. "Nav gear. Gyros. Prisoner."

"Oh. Well, I've got just the thing for you."

Starscream felt something encircle his wrist. "What's that?" His voice was almost a whisper.

"It'll stop you from transforming so you can't just up and fly away."

"I can't even _crawl_ away at present!" Starscream protested, then decided he shouldn't be so antagonistic towards Wheeljack. "Optimus Prime said I could be repaired if I waited till last."

"That you can," Wheeljack agreed. "Is there anything you need at present?"

Presumably he'd already had his orders from Optimus. "I'm low on energon."

"Chromia!"

A new face loomed over him: a femme, and quite beautiful. Her lips were the bluish purple of night-time on Cybertron, and her bodywork was the colour of the sunlit sky and...she was frowning at him.

"A female Autobot? Here on Earth?"

"Yes, Starscream." She frowned again.

"How..?"

"I came here from Cybertron."

"Isn't it too dangerous for you _femmes_ here?"

"Don't patronise me! It's surely no more dangerous than for you, and no more dangerous than Cybertron." She turned to Wheeljack. "What is it?"

"See if you can find some energon for him, will you?"

"We're wasting _our_ energon on _him_?" She jerked a thumb towards Starscream.

"Op's orders."

"Hang on – wasting?" Indignation surged through Starscream's circuits.

"I seem to remember that the last time we met he was trying to kill my friends and me!"

"I'm sure, Chromia, but Optimus's orders are to keep him a prisoner until either Ratchet or I can repair him, and look after him in the meantime."

"I hope Optimus knows what he's doing, then." Chromia turned towards a companionway.

Starscream guessed it led to the mess. _'Look after him' is probably a euphemism for 'keep an optic on him',_ he reflected, watching her go. It wasn't long until she was out of his field of vision.

It wasn't long, either, before she came back with three small energon cubes. "Here you are," she said. "Is this enough?"

"It'll keep me ticking over." Starscream took the first cube, bit into it to rupture it, and sucked, feeling the energon diffuse into his energy absorber.

"Can't you use the recharging chambers?" Chromia asked, pointing at them on the opposite side of the room.

"I wouldn't exactly fit in with my wings!" Starscream reached for the next cube.

"I suppose not."

Wheeljack loomed over him. "We could help you sit up if you want – it'll be several solar cycles before we can fix you, Starscream. Surely you don't want to lie down all that time?"

"Can't. Too dizzy." Although he was starting to feel stronger, thanks to the energon. "Every time I move I feel weird." Starscream looked at him, considering. "Will you help me lie down again if it makes me too dizzy?"

"Of course."

"Okay." He allowed them to support him, one on each side. But he wasn't prepared for the jolt that tore through him when Chromia's fingers brushed his left shoulder. "Aaah!"

She let go of his arm. "What's the matter now?"

"I got a shock –"

"Not from me, you didn't, mister! Come on!" She put her hand under his arm, more firmly this time, and at a nod from Wheeljack they hoisted him up and swung him to lean back against the bulkhead. Starscream was reeling again, but at least he hadn't got a shock that time.

It took several astroseconds for the room to stop whirling and settle from a blur of colour into distinct and familiar shapes. "Better. Okay." Starscream reached for the third cube.

"What happened with the shock just then?"

"Mmmm. Don't know, but it was just on Chromia's side. Didn't happen the second time."

"Don't want anyone else getting a shock – I'd better check you out, Chromia."

"I'm fine, but you can."

Starscream finished his energon and watched them walk away together to the other side of the room. Now that it had stopped orbiting him he was beginning to realise that here was a good opportunity to observe the Autobots, and if there was anything to be discovered, do so.

Just now, Wheeljack was passing an object in front of, and all over, Chromia. _He's scanning her for anything that would give him a clue as to why I got that shock,_ Starscream mused. And he zoomed in on it to see if there were any changes in the twinkling lights. _Nothing. Like she said, she's fine. So if it wasn't her, could it be –_

Evidently Wheeljack had come to the same conclusion, because he hurried back over. "Nothing wrong with Chromia," he said. "Can I check you out, Starscream?"

"Please do," he replied, half-disappointed that he might not get to learn anything useful before leaving if he was going to be repaired quickly after all. But when Wheeljack passed the probe over him, there was no sign of anything wrong, other than the damage he knew about. His own diagnostic circuits had told him quite correctly what he needed to know.

"No – nothing that would give you a jolt like that – I felt you twitch!" Wheeljack switched off the probe. "But I don't think it'll happen again. You'll just have to wait your turn, Starscream. Don't worry – Chromia will look after you."

"I'm _so_ lucky!" Starscream murmured. But Wheeljack was already striding back to his original patient and gave no sign of hearing. Starscream watched him and Ratchet working for a while; he had no idea where Chromia was; the human Autobot sympathiser, Spike, was wandering around on various errands while his father helped with the repairs, but Starscream had no intention of striking up a conversation with a fleshling. Bored, he decided to shut himself down.

He drifted in and out of recharge a few times as the pain of his injuries disturbed him, half-registering the _clatter_ and _clunk_ of the repair work going on around him. Once he heard Wheeljack and Ratchet discussing the availability of parts, and it occurred to him that there could be problems when it came to repairing some of his systems. Then he floated away again, and stayed unconscious until late.

"Starscream?"

He focused his optics on Chromia, her face close to his. "What?"

"Wheeljack wanted to know about parts for you. D'you want to give me a list?" Chromia knelt beside him.

As he told her, Starscream studied her. She showed no trace of her earlier antagonism; her manner was that of a professional soldier. But her optics glowed as she spoke. He could see she was watching him closely as he examined her features. His gaze lingered on those lips, full and enticing, and the colour of midnight on Cybertron, for a nanoklik or two, until he had to look away. His own mouth tingled with the urge to kiss her, although logic told him it was only because he wasn't used to female company. It had been a very long time since he'd felt the touch of a femme's mouth against his..._Stop!_ he told himself. Logic found him reasons why he couldn't kiss her: because his movement was limited, because he wasn't on home ground, because there were Autobots around – and she was one of them. _She's spoken for – the last time I saw her she seemed to be with Ironhide – _

"Okay, thanks, Starscream," she said, rising, and this time smiled a sweet, sweet smile at him. It made him feel as if he'd done her some huge favour, instead of the other way around, and he wondered if she knew, and was playing on, the effect she was having on him. "I'll go check these out."

She walked away and out of his field of vision. Starscream waited for what seemed like vorns until she reappeared beside him.

"We can use some standard parts because Air Raid's design is very similar. But I checked for all those parts, and though we have most things, your equilibrium chip will present a problem."

"Why?"

"We don't have a flight-capable spare."

"Oh, I see," Starscream said. "It needs to be able to interface properly with my gyros. We'll have to ask Megatron. Maybe Thundercracker could drop one off when he's been fixed."

"That sounds like a good idea." Wheeljack had joined them. "I'll get Optimus to set it up."

"Better if it comes from him?" Starscream looked sidewise at him.

"I've got a lot of fixing to do," Wheeljack said. "I'd better get on."

"Me too." As Chromia walked away he couldn't help watching her hips as they swung from side to side; like any other femme, rounded instead of angular and square, slender instead of massive. _Primus, it must have been a long time if I've got my optics on an _Autobot _female!_ he thought. _But why is she here?_

_*_

"What is it, Soundwave?" Megatron's irritation at the disturbance, just as Hook had started work on his repairs, spilled over into his voice.

"Optimus Prime for you."

"I'm busy," he growled.

"Megatron is unavailable," Soundwave intoned.

"Can I leave a message? It's about Starscream."

"Affirmative."

In spite of having made himself unavailable, Megatron listened to the conversation.

Quickly Prime explained what was needed, and Soundwave confirmed that one of them would bring the chip to the _Ark_. When Prime had finished the call, Soundwave came over to Megatron. "Part required in stock," he intoned.

"Good! Fortunately for Starscream, nobody else will be needing it this time." Some parts were now in short supply. "Mmf! –" Megatron flinched slightly as Hook began to cut away his damaged housing. _All this pain and hassle just to sneak that slagger into the Ark! But it'll be even better if I can put a second Seeker in there, and get a report from Starscream,_ Megatron mused. "Thundercracker can take them over when he's been repaired." If Soundwave went the Autobots would suspect him of spying, but Thundercracker was just another soldier.

_So far so good,_ Megatron thought. _Now, if only Starscream does what I expect him to..._He hadn't discussed the plan with him because he hadn't wanted to put his Air Commander in a position where he could inadvertently – or otherwise – give away the reason why he'd been left behind. _Of course, Starscream won't be happy about that. But he won't be able to resist snooping about, once he's been fixed. And Optimus fell for the trap, just as I hoped, and thought, he would. His compassion will be his downfall, one day. One day!_

He just hoped it would be sooner rather than later.


	2. Chapter 2: Curious

_**Undercover**_

Cleargold

_A/N: The backstory mentioned for the first time in this chapter is woven around some of the events of the very excellent _Megatron: Origin_, written by Eric Holmes, with Alex Milne's excellent artwork._

_[ ] denotes communication via an internal digital channel._

_Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Mirage Shinkiro for betaing for me, and Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud. _

_To all of you who received an erroneous message that I had posted Chapter 2 on March 31__st__, I'm _really_ sorry about that (and especially if you were disappointed!) – I just hit the wrong button by mistake while trying to make some changes to the original Chapter 1! And to all of you who've stuck with it, reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so. Here it is. _

**Chapter 2: Curious**

The screen above Teletraan 1 was filled with human faces, for the most part scared or weeping, and occasionally angry.

"And now we return to our headline story, the eruption of the Magdalena volcano in Paratina. At just after 8 p.m. two days ago, the volcano erupted explosively. Following this, mudflows have occurred in the area, blocking surrounding river valleys, probably triggered by glacial ice melting at the summit.

"The small town of Aralia has been completely overwhelmed, killing about 25,000 of its inhabitants. The scientific community apparently warned the authorities, but accusations have been made that no evacuation plans were in place to deal with a natural disaster of this magnitude..."

_Heh! Humans – they're so disorganised,_ Starscream thought. _If their authorities can't even agree on how to deal with natural disasters, they'll be easy victims for us!_

"Can't we help them?" asked Bumblebee, looking up at the screen as he walked into the control room with Bluestreak.

"I don't see how we can," Bluestreak said. "Ratchet and co. still have several patients, and the rest of us are busy with Project Aurora –"

Bumblebee jabbed an elbow against his side and pointed to Starscream. He raised his voice, probably for Starscream's benefit, and said, "Phew! Weren't Ironhide and Jazz _late_? I thought that shift was never going to end."

Starscream saw the gesture. "Don't point at _me_, Autobot!" His processor had snagged on the words, _'_Project Aurora', and he sequestered it at the back of his data banks for later reference._ I need a distraction from that, so I can pretend I didn't notice. _"What is it with you Autobots, anyway, that you have to go around helping the flesh creatures all the time?"

"What's it with you 'Cons that you consider yourself too superior to help anyone else at all?" Bluestreak's tone was indignant. "With _your_ attitude you're very lucky Optimus took pity on you."

Starscream just chuckled in his driest way.

"I happen to agree with you, but for Primus' sake, don't let him wind you up!" Bumblebee said. "Both of us have better things to expend our energy on. "

"Slaggit, you're right!"

_Evidently Bluestreak's forgotten that it was his gaffe that had started the argument,_ Starscream reflected.

"Well, I'm for a bit of R and R." Bluestreak stretched and crossed the control room, heading down another corridor. Bumblebee followed.

Starscream looked around the control room, trying to relax back against the bulkhead. Evidently the Autobot casualties were as bored as he was, because Teletraan I had been hooked into human TV most of the time he'd been in the control room. He'd viewed it with some curiosity at first, since watching human transmissions, other than news and mission-interest programmes, was strictly forbidden back at Decepticon HQ. But the only programmes Starscream found any real interest in were news bulletins, current affairs programmes, and sometimes the satirical comedy shows that mocked fleshling politicians.

_I wonder what Bumblebee and Bluestreak were doing on their shift? _Although he wanted to know why Chromia and her friends were on Earth he was uncertain when he'd be repaired and couldn't settle to forming any kind of plan to find out. _And, _he realised,_ there'll only be a narrow window of opportunity to learn what Project Aurora is between being repaired and leaving. _

He tried to shift forward again to stretch his arms and flex his wings to relieve the growing stiffness in his joints. But the dizziness and sensation of losing his balance, painful to a Seeker who was used to soaring or diving at a whim without fear of falling, flooded into his circuits and made him slump back against the bulkhead. _At this rate, _he thought, _I'm not going to be able to get up ever again, and won't discover _anything_!_ The only bright spot on the horizon was that Ratchet and his assistants had managed to fix two of the Autobots by mid-morning, which brought his own repairs a little closer.

Later in the day there was some excitement when a femme's voice rang out on the intercom calling for Inferno to help put out a fire in the construction laboratory. Starscream's audio-receptors pricked up at that. It didn't sound like Chromia, but he couldn't identify just who it was until Optimus Prime responded, "Inferno's on his way, Elita. Evacuate the lab."

_She's here too, then,_ Starscream thought, as Inferno thundered by in fire truck mode. He decided Optimus must have forgotten about his presence to say anything so revealing.

"Where do you want us to wait?"

"Come into the control room, but leave the – project outside."

Starscream intercepted Optimus's glance in his direction.

"I'll bring some others to help with the evacuation. We must protect our work."

"Agreed. Thanks, Optimus. Elita out."

_Perhaps it was just as well I did get injured in that skirmish! _Starscream's curiosity was piqued again, but he didn't want Optimus to see him craning for a better view. _But damn these injuries for stopping me from moving about! _He decided against pretending to doze again on the grounds that it would look like a suspicious strategy in an emergency. Instead he did his best to appear alarmed. _If anyone asks I can say I'm worried about getting caught in the fire. _So when Optimus approached with several other Autobots, including Bumblebee, Bluestreak, Mirage and Hound, Starscream asked, "What's happening?"

"There's a minor fire in another part of the Ark. We're evacuating that area for safety reasons."

"Will – Will I have to be evacuated too?"

"Unlikely," Optimus said. "We hope Inferno will soon have everything under control."

"Typical, Starscream – always thinking of your own safety!" muttered Hound.

"The evacuation's the vital thing at present," Optimus said. "Let's go!" and they set off down the corridor. Soon the squeak of wheels on the metal floor of the Ark could be heard. They stopped in the corridor, and Starscream cursed his injuries again. _They got me in here but won't let me get any closer to whatever this "project" of theirs is._ But as Chromia and three other femmes, all of whom he recognised, walked into the control room, he forgot about the injuries. Before him stood Chromia, Elita One, Moonracer and Firestar.

"I thought he was a prisoner?" Firestar stabbed a finger at him.

"He is," Ratchet put in, "but he's awaiting major system repairs, or he'd have been in the brig."

"Why are we repairing him?" Moonracer was indignant.

"Optimus has his reasons," Elita answered.

"As Chromia pointed out, the last time we saw him, he was shooting at us. He and his friend Rumble destroyed our headquarters so we had to relocate. Both you and Optimus nearly died, and we were trapped –"

"That's enough, Moonracer!" Elita said.

Starscream leaned back against the bulkhead. _They're so uptight, it'd be fun to wind them up a bit,_ he he grinned in the most superior way he could. "Well, girls, don't all fight over me!"

"Don't flatter yourself, Starscream!" Firestar flashed. _She despises me,_ he thought. The others, including Chromia, probably felt the same way about him.

He was mildly surprised to find her beside him with his energon. He hadn't heard her approach. As he took the cubes from her he looked sidewise at her. "Nothing to say?"

"Someone's got to behave with a bit of restraint," Chromia replied.

_That figures._ She hadn't joined in with the others, probably because she was their troop leader, and it occurred to him that her straight-forwardness made her even more likeable; perhaps because he would never attain that quality himself. _Perhaps it's true that opposites attract._

"Stay here, all of you," Elita said, "and take five, in turn. Optimus and the others will complete the evacuation and deal with the fire. Chromia, you can take the first break."

Chromia let her gaze roam around the room and stop on Starscream. "Elita, why don't _you_ take the first break, and Firestar, Moonracer and I can go after you? I'll look after my – er – other charge, and there can be two out in the corridor at any one time."

Elita agreed to this and walked towards the corridor Bluestreak had taken earlier. Moonracer and Firestar went and stood by the entrance to the other corridor. Chromia looked down at Starscream, apparently considering something. Eventually she dropped down beside him.

"Let me guess, your first priority is to distract me from working out what your _project_ is!" Starscream was so used to the confrontational relationship with the Autobots that he fell into it automatically.

"Close!" she acknowledged. "I appear to have acquired some sort of responsibility for you, so I figured I'd better start exercising it."

A burst of music from the huge screen announced the start of a new programme. "'_Women Rule: A History of Feminism_'," Chromia read. "What's that about, Spike?"

The young human was carrying a wrench, which, presumably, he'd been sent for. "It's to do with Women's Lib," he said. "Apparently us men have been holding women back!"

"Lib?" Starscream asked.

"Short for liberation." Spike grinned.

"Why liberation?"

"Watch the programme and you'll find out!" Spike set off across the Control Room, intent on delivering the wrench.

"The flesh creatures have some strange ideas," Starscream observed.

"Yes, but then it's even stranger to make a complete new person inside yourself. It must be hard work – so perhaps that's why the women needed liberating," Chromia suggested.

"Yet the human males and females need each other equally to complete their sex cycle," Starscream said. "Presumably they don't _want_ liberating from that particular dependence!"

Starscream watched Chromia as she watched the programme. She seemed to find it fascinating. He shrugged and settled into watching as well. It wouldn't do any harm to find out what the silly fleshling females thought they needed liberating from...

One by one the others took their breaks. Chromia stayed where she was, engrossed in the black-and-white photos and early footage of women chaining themselves to railings in support of their cause. She seemed to admire the human Suffragettes, as did the other femmes when they returned and became interested in the programme. Starscream couldn't find it in himself to feel the same way about them, but he remembered the circumstances which had led to his involvement in the Decepticon movement, and understood the passion which sustained the Suffragettes during their fight for equality. On Cybertron femmes had generally been treated the same as mechs, but as Chromia pointed out, if one sex had not just responsibility for new humans but major personal involvement as well, perhaps things _were_ unequal for human females.

"Time for your break, Chromia." Starscream looked up to see Elita One towering over him and looking between Chromia and himself and back again.

"I don't really need one – I've been watching this programme," Chromia confessed. "It's quite interesting."

"Yes, I've seen some of it as well," Elita said. "I think the others have, too."

"Reminds me a bit of the early days of the Decepticons," Starscream commented. "Their zeal made them keep on trying in a way that's admirable, even for such a weak organic race – maybe their females deserve more respect than their males."

Optimus reappeared from the corridor. "All right, Autobots. The fire's out, and we're just finishing clearing up and...replacing everything."

The hesitation shouted of secrecy. Starscream was alert for every oblique mention of whatever this mysterious project was, and again cursed his inability to move about.

"We'll get back to work, then," Chromia said, standing up.

He watched the four femmes enter the corridor again, his optics lingering on Chromia.

_Just what _are_ they doing in that lab?_ he wondered again. It required the presence of femmes, obviously, or these four wouldn't be on Earth. Optimus must be up to something, but Starscream couldn't for the life of him imagine what the Autobot leader was planning.

*

Starscream drifted back into consciousness just as a familiar blue form strode into the _Ark_'s control room. "TC! Am I glad to see you!"

Optimus Prime and Ratchet flanked him. "Can we help you with that?" Optimus gestured toward the chip Thundercracker had removed from his cockpit.

_Polite as ever,_ Starscream thought,_ but it's plainly a security move._ He watched as Thundercracker handed over the chip.

"You can speak with Starscream, if you wish," Optimus told Thundercracker.

He nodded. "I did want to see him, while I'm here."

"Gears, you're on security duty," Optimus said, and to Thundercracker he added, "You have five Earth minutes."

Thundercracker nodded and came over to Starscream. "Are you okay?" he asked, seating himself beside him and leaning back against the bulkhead. "Megatron wouldn't let Hook fix anyone else up till he'd finished working on him."

[Megatron said you and Skywarp were being repaired _as he spoke_ when Prime called him,] Starscream pointed out via their private channel, not wanting any of the Autobots to hear. [Was he lying again?]

[You _know _he always gets repaired before anyone else!]

"You know why he kept _me_ waiting, don't you?" Starscream was very aware of Gears standing nearby, trying not to give away the fact that he was listening to their conversation.

"Something to do with your latest scheme to undermine him, I suspect!" Thundercracker quirked his upper lip in the lopsided half-smile that was a mirror image of his own grin. "Why do you do it? Aren't you satisfied with being Air Commander?"

"I don't know why, something just drives me on," Starscream admitted. "I suppose I just feel confident that I'm the superior officer."

"One day you'll go too far," Thundercracker warned. "It might be good to stop before that happens."

Starscream met his optics with a level gaze. "Like, you think I could?"

"Like, I think you should seriously consider it."

"Hey, listen!" Starscream pointed across the control room to where Firestar had just entered. "There are femmes here."

"What?"

"It's true. Autobot femmes. One of them's assigned to 'look after' me." Starscream remembered the shock he'd received when Chromia had touched him, and instantly decided he wasn't going to mention that. He pointed again, this time at Prime. "I've seen Optimus Prime's girlfriend here as well."

"Wonder what they're doing here?"

"I don't know – yet...But it'll be several solar cycles before I can be repaired, as I'm last in the queue, so..." Starscream paused. "Though I can't move around much."

"Okay, you two – time's up!" Gears growled. "I'll escort you to the exit, Thundercracker."

"Thanks, TC," Starscream murmured.

Thundercracker stood up and made as if to transform to simply fly out of the control room, but nothing happened, and it was then that Starscream noticed that he too wore one of Wheeljack's transformation-inhibitors. "Augh, I forgot about that thing," he muttered, and followed Gears with a wave to Starscream.

*

Starscream onlined to find himself still leaning back against the bulkhead. He'd slipped into recharge mode a few times that evening from sheer boredom. The control room was deserted apart from Ratchet, the human, Sparkplug Witwicky, and their diminishing queue of patients. Wheeljack was apparently offshift, and it looked as if the others were preparing to follow them once they'd finished dealing with their current patient.

Starscream hadn't seen Optimus Prime for groons; he'd disappeared with the femmes and a couple of uninjured mechs some time ago. _Whatever the rationale behind the femmes' presence, _Starscream reasoned_, it has something to do with them being female or they wouldn't be here._ But beyond that, he had no idea what was going on, and no idea how he could find out more while his injuries prevented him from moving about.

"I'm bored - let's see what's on TV," Tracks suggested, mimicking a human yawn. Starscream had noticed, in the trailer on the way to the Ark, that Tracks had lost part of one leg, but he managed to crawl to where the remote was stored, and switched on. He flicked idly through the channels, stopping for a few moments on one or another if they seemed interesting, but for the most part moving quickly on. "Hey, Formula 1 racing! That's cool –"

Ratchet groaned. "That racket does my head in while I'm operating! Isn't there anything else?"

Reluctantly Tracks hopped channels again. "Cool! Check it out – Tina Turner!"

"Well, _you're _not gonna be dancing to that for a while!"

"True," Tracks switched channels again. "Well, what about this Late Channel?"

The screen filled up with bizarre images. Once he'd worked out what they were, Starscream realised they were ones he'd never have expected to see in the _Ark_'s control room.

"Whatever's _that_?" Ratchet put his head first on one side, then the other, trying to work out what he was seeing.

"Looks like an X-rated movie," the fleshling, Sparkplug, replied. "Good job Spike's not here right now! I wouldn't let _him_ watch anything like that."

"Why not?" Ratchet asked.

"Too young."

"How d'you mean?"

"We try to protect our youngsters from seeing things that are...inappropriate to their age group." He explained the ratings system. "This is a movie about sex."

"Human sex?"

"Obviously!"

Tracks scanned the screen curiously. "Is that – real?"

"Nah – they simulate it in films," Sparkplug said. "I still wouldn't want Spike to watch anything like this."

Starscream's thoughts turned back to his conversation with Chromia the previous solar cycle. So male humans could be as protective of their offspring as females. _I'm confused._

"Not so different from us, really," Tracks said after a few moments of turning his head this way and that to check from different angles.

Starscream was watching with some curiosity as well. The images were beginning to make some sense to him in the context of the flesh creatures. Tracks was right: human sex mirrored Transformer sex, at least superficially. He felt mentally alert and was beginning to feel slightly aroused, and wondered whether Tracks, or any of the others, were similarly affected.

"I'd turn that over if I were you – sounds like Optimus and the femmes are coming back!" Ratchet said.

Tracks hurried to comply – looking a little disappointed, Starscream thought.

Tina Turner, belting out a raw-sounding live version of _Private Dancer_, replaced the writhing humans on the bed just in time to avoid serious embarrassment for all of them.

*

The next solar cycle Starscream decided he must focus on finding out why the femmes were on Earth or go crazy with boredom. For much of his time he was aware of a growing impatience, but wasn't sure exactly what he was so eager for, until Chromia approached him with his energon; on the dot, twenty-four Earth hours after the last time.

"Thanks, Chromia," he said, unwilling to drink the contents of the cubes while she was there and waste time he might spend talking to her. He decided a direct approach might yield more information than an oblique one, and at least his curiosity need not be feigned. "Er – I've got to ask; why are you _ladies_ here on Earth?"

Chromia looked surprised, then annoyed. "What's that got to do with you?"

"Just curious, I guess," he murmured. "Can you blame me? I'm sat here bored out of my mind all day, so what am I going to think about? I can't even get up and walk about, get some exercise so I don't stiffen up too much. After all, it's pretty unusual for any femmes to be here instead of on Cybertron!"

Chromia's scowl vaporised. "Of course – you must be bored. Well, it's no secret. My friends and I wanted to see our boyfriends, and they wanted to see us. Don't you Decepticons need a bit of female company sometimes?"

Starscream didn't know how to answer that. He was as interested in femmes as the next mech, but he'd never discussed such a thing with any other Decepticon since he had no wish to ruin the image he'd built up of himself as a cool-headed and vicious warrior. Besides, there hadn't been enough females to go round before the war, so there certainly weren't now. Eventually he said, "I...guess so."

"Well, then, you know how we felt."

"Er – yes." Starscream's chain of thought took him back to when he'd first met Megatron. Femmes had made up a higher proportion of the population then, and the successful gladiators he'd so admired – what had first drawn him into the beginnings of the Decepticon movement – had been rewarded with regular visits from the local brothel. When he and his flightmates had joined Megatron, they'd been included. But that had suddenly come to a grinding halt shortly afterwards, without explanation. At the time they'd just accepted it in the heady excitement of the escalating war. _I must ask Megatron why that was, _he thought, _when I get back to base._

"I'm sorry you're so bored, Starscream, but you must know that that's part of being a prisoner, and in your case it's part of being injured as well!" Chromia retorted. "We're taking care of you, which I'm sure wouldn't happen were the positions reversed, so I don't think you ought to be grumbling!"

"I'm not complaining," Starscream said quickly, "I'm just –"

"It sounded a lot like complaining." Chromia looked round. "Sorry, Starscream – my presence is required!"

Starscream caught sight of Optimus Prime standing by one of the exits from the room. Whatever the femmes were _really_ doing on Earth, the project had Optimus's official sanction and personal involvement. "Okay," he said. "See you later, Chromia, and – don't be _too_ cross with me!"

For answer, she flashed a mischievous smile at him and strode off.

*

Starscream was still bored. He sprawled against the bulkhead, elbows balanced on his knees. For several solar cycles he'd either sat in a similar position or lain on the floor, with nothing to do but watch either Ratchet and Wheeljack's repair schedule or human TV. Nobody had spoken to him for groons. _But at least I haven't got Megatron grumbling at me,_ he thought. He was focusing so hard on Ratchet that he didn't hear anyone approach.

"You look fed up – are you willing Ratchet to fix you?" Chromia asked.

Starscream looked round sharply, then managed a grin. "I'm not used to having nothing to do," he said. "You're the only one who talks to me – apart from Wheeljack, and he's too busy –"

"Are you missing your Decepticon cronies?"

"Not really," Starscream confessed. "It was good to see TC the other day, but I'm not very close to anyone there and Megatron treats me like slag."

"It can't be pleasant to be left for dead."

"You know about that?"

"Optimus told me."

"I wouldn't be here otherwise – and I haven't forgiven Megatron for abandoning me." Her sympathy was balm to his resentment. "I haven't seen much of you today, Chromia," he said, "and since Ironhide's been in here the whole time since you disappeared to whatever you're working on, your wish to spend time with him obviously hasn't been met!"

"No," she agreed. "Not today. Some days are like that."

He'd been hoping to needle her enough to get her to reveal where she'd been all day. _No such luck,_ he thought. _I'll have to try something else._

"Well, here's your energon." She dropped the usual three cubes into his outstretched hand.

As she did so, her fingertips brushed the palm of his hand, and a tingle flowed through the sensors there. _It's that sensation again, though it's not an electric shock._ But his core temperature was rising, and his awareness of his attraction to her was becoming so strong that he had to look away from her gaze.

"Are you all right, Starscream? You look – a bit strange."

"I'm – okay. Just dizzy."

"D'you need to lie down for a while? I'll get Wheeljack and –"

"No!" He didn't want her to touch him in this sensitised state. She'd _know _from the sudden heat of his frame. "I'll be – fine."

A shadow fell over them. "Chromia, you hadn't forgotten, had you?"

Starscream looked up to see Ironhide standing waiting, and glaring at him. He put the energon cubes down beside him and folded his arms in a self-defensive gesture.

"No, of course not!" She turned back to Starscream. "Got to go now. Got a date with my boyfriend. Finally!"

He gritted his teeth against the sudden stab of jealousy as they left the control room holding hands. And he knew why Ironhide had come over. _He's jealous of me. Somehow he knows about my attraction to Chromia, and he thinks I'm trying to take her away from him. _

He leaned his head back against the bulkhead in an attempt to let the chill of the metal steady him. _You idiot!_ he chided himself. _You've let yourself get involved with an Autobot femme, and worse still, she's with someone else. Megatron would call you a fool, and this time he'd be right!_

*

"Right, Starscream – your turn!"

Starscream had been dozing, but he jerked back online at Wheeljack's exclamation. "Am I going to have to get up and go over there?"

"'Fraid so, but we'll help you, won't we, Chromia?"

"Of course."

Starscream allowed the two Autobots to help him up. His sensors registered the tingle that had become so familiar as soon as Chromia put her hand under his arm to lift him. But he'd grown stiff from lack of movement, and it hurt to pull himself upright. His vision blurred and he felt dizzy and disoriented, but he was so close to being repaired that he gripped his lower lip between his teeth and made the enormous effort required to get himself across the room and onto the operating table.

"Stiff and sore, eh?"

He grunted an acknowledgement.

"Don't worry, we'll get you oiled up and back to normal in no time!"

As he subsided onto the table Chromia let go of his arm and excused herself. Starscream didn't know whether to be glad or sorry that she'd gone.

"I bet you'll be glad to get home, won't you?" Wheeljack asked, carefully removing the broken glass of the cockpit windshield.

Starscream shrugged as best he could with his cockpit open. "Sort of." _But I won't see Chromia after I go. _"I've been a bit bored some of the time. I don't enjoy inactivity."

Starscream watched as Wheeljack lifted his diagnostic probe and began to work. He had a good look inside his cockpit, examining the area around the equilibrium chip from different angles. Then he did the same for the navigation pod, including the gyros. He noted the external damage Starscream had received, including the burns on his chest from the percussion which had knocked out the chip and nav gear. He checked the extent of the stiffness in his joints by carefully flexing his legs at the hip, knee and ankle, and investigated the oiling points. Starscream began to worry that he'd try to use the examination to work out potential weaknesses to use against him in battle. Finally, he examined Starscream's radio unit to gauge the extent of the damage.

"Right, well, we'll start with that."

"Aren't you going to replace my equilibrium chip first?" Starscream asked. "It's making me feel quite peculiar lying here."

"I need to do that last, when everything else has been fixed, so I can make sure everything else works properly before I re-integrate it to the rest of your systems. "

Starscream could have ground his teeth together in sheer frustration. _I sat there for five solar cycles, waiting to get that chip replaced and he's not even going to do it yet!_ Making his voice as light as possible he said, "Optimus's orders?"

"Not really – it just needs to go in last. Now, do you need a low-intensity EMP for pain relief? We've been working on developing a delivery method for a while now."

"No."

Starscream wondered, not for the first time, why Optimus had been so generous towards him. _He must want something in exchange._ The thought sustained him through the repairs and maintenance, right up to the point where the damaged equilibrium chip was removed, and although he never did manage to work out what Optimus might be after, he was sure that it must be connected with the mysterious project Chromia was involved in.

"This is the offender," Wheeljack said, lifting the chip out.

"Just as well I'm lying down," Starscream muttered, as Wheeljack placed it to one side of him. "I feel like floating away, or falling over. Perhaps I should have had that EMP."

"Too late now," Wheeljack said. "Here we go with the new one." His hand descended into Starscream's chest.

Starscream felt the connection click into place, first at one end, then the other. As the new chip came online, the sensation of vertigo evaporated.

"Right, _now_ I can replace your cockpit glass."

Wheeljack spent some time checking his systems, to the point that Starscream was beginning to feel anxious and insecure. "Is there a problem?"

"No. I just wanted to check everything. Are you still getting that electric shock sensation you had when you first came here? Because I never really did get to the bottom of it, did I?"

"I'm sure it wasn't anything serious."

"Evidently not, since I can't find anything wrong with any of your systems."

Starscream wondered what Wheeljack would say if he knew the truth: _I've got the hots for Chromia. _He decided he didn't want to find out. "No, you didn't," he agreed, mentally adding, _and you're not going to._


	3. Chapter 3: Discovery

Undercover

Cleargold

**Chapter 3: Discovery**

_A/N: [ ] denotes communication via an internal digital channel. __To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so._

_Rating:__ M _

_Warning:__ Contains some violence, language, and adult themes._

_Genre:__ Hurt/comfort/Romance with some mech/femme activity. _

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own some OCs that appear later on._

_Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Mirage Shinkiro for betaing for me, and Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud. _

_There isn't much time before I leave, _Starscream thought, _but I really must try to find out what Optimus is up to._

With his repairs completed, he expected Optimus to order him to leave at any moment, so he was surprised to hear Wheeljack say, "We'll try a test flight in the morning, then."

Hope leapt inside him that he'd be able to find out why the femmes were on Earth, as a quick check of his internal chronometer told him that Wheeljack's very thorough repairs had taken longer than he'd thought; it was the middle of the evening. "So – what happens to me till then?"

"I guess you'll have to go to the brig overnight."

_Too much to hope for the freedom to roam around and find out what's going on!_ he thought ruefully. "O-kay," he agreed, as Wheeljack called Hoist and Bluestreak over.

On the way he committed the route to memory. If he managed to get free for long enough for a look around he'd need to avoid the control room, where there was always someone on duty. So he made sure he knew where side passages led off the main one.

At the brig a heavy door had to be opened with a security password. As Hoist entered it, Starscream observed, not letting his escorts see that he was recording for later retrieval. And as Bluestreak sealed him into a cell in the brig, he watched the keypad sequence which activated the energon bars, again giving no outward sign that he was recording the whole thing.

When his escorts had gone, Starscream sat quietly on the side of the berth for some time, just mulling over the events of the past few solar cycles. His situation seemed somewhat unusual to him, in that he'd been forced into physical inactivity and hadn't had to react to his surroundings – or his enemies – in the same way as he normally would, though he remembered the reactions of the Autobot femmes to him and how he'd deliberately tried to needle them some of the time, just for fun, and partly out of habit.

Eventually he decided he'd waited long enough and went over to the threshold of the cell and studied the keypad. It was standard Cybertronian space-going hardware; short-circuit it out and an alarm would be set off, but he should be all right simply using the keypad sequence he'd recorded. Carefully he reached towards the energon bars.

It was then that he noticed the camera trained on his cell. _Oh, slag! _he thought. Then logic took over. He fired his null-ray cannon at it and was rewarded with the sound of static. _They'll know I'm up to something now, so I haven't got much time. _He entered the keypad sequence and the energon bars faded out.

Starscream stepped out of the cell and towards the door. The password entered, he left the brig.

He slipped along the corridor, back the way they'd come, until he came to one of the side branches. _Will this one take me where I want to go? Or will I meet someone else and get brought back and locked up again?_ Starscream decided it wasn't worth investigating, since it was on the wrong side of the ship to take him to where the femmes seemed to be working. He kept going until he found a side corridor which curved in the right direction and followed it until he came to a closed door.

Starscream listened intently; no sound came from within. He scanned the doorway for security measures. There didn't appear to be anything. _No password or keypad sequence for this one!_ He tried the door. Locked. But it wasn't guarded. _Perhaps this isn't it, then. _Or was it simply that everyone had finished working and gone to recharge? _Or perhaps it's just the cleaning supplies closet! _

Starscream walked further down the corridor until he came to a sharp bend. He edged forwards until he could see around it – and had to dodge back behind its shelter when he heard voices and saw Mirage and Bumblebee flanking a door, arms at the ready. _That's got to be the one! _It occurred to Starscream then to wonder if they'd have been there if he hadn't been present aboard the_ Ark. Well, I've found it, but what am I going to do about it? _It was preferable to avoid confrontations and use stealth; Starscream fully intended to return to his cell once he'd found out what he wanted to know, and that wouldn't be possible if he engaged the Autobots in his usual gung ho fashion. But a distraction might just serve the purpose...

Remembering the fire in the lab the first full day he'd been here, he hurried back down the corridor until he came to the locked door, which he was now almost convinced was a cleaning closet. He fired his null ray at the lock. It swung open. He activated his optic flashlights and walked into the darkness, firing at a pile of cleaning materials in a corner. Nanokliks later he walked out, the materials blazing behind him. A burst of null ray fire into a panel in the corridor disabled the lighting; cover enough for him to get into the lab and back into his cell.

Probably.

He hovered in the darkness near the lab's entrance, flattened against the bulkhead, waiting to see what happened. He didn't have to wait long. Inferno screeched by, heading for the cleaning closet, followed by Ironhide, Red Alert and several other Autobots. Optimus Prime followed. He jammed on the brakes at the lab door and transformed. His fingers danced over the keypad and the door swung open. Starscream recorded the whole sequence.

Bumblebee and Mirage remained stubbornly at their posts, weapons at the ready. Prime only stayed in the lab for a few nanokliks. "Stay on guard," he told them, and trundled off along the corridor.

As soon as he'd gone Starscream fired his null ray at Bumblebee and Mirage from his hiding-place. They collapsed where they stood. He recalled the keypad sequence Prime had used and the door swung open again.

Starscream knew he hadn't much time. The Autobots had probably already connected the fire with his absence without leave. He stepped into the lab and looked around.

A number of trolleys lay around the room. Beside each trolley stood a cabinet whose upper surface was covered with various tools and instruments, and on the trolleys lay familiar forms. Female forms. _Optimus is building new femmes! And t__his is no small project,_ he thought. _There must be about twenty here. At this rate Optimus is set to repopulate Cybertron with females! _

Starscream left the lab and the door closed behind him. He slipped unnoticed past the firefighters and approached the brig. At the door he entered the password. The door opened. The null ray's effects would have worn off the camera by now, so he immediately blasted it again. Only then did he enter.

He went back into his cell and reactivated the energon bars, then settled himself down on the berth, and arranged himself on his back with one arm hanging limply down. When the camera came back online it would show him lying there, very relaxed, just as if recharging. Only then did he allow himself to think about his discovery.

_Now, the question is, are they being built as reinforcements, or for other reasons?_

*

Starscream looked up as Wheeljack entered the brig, then swung his legs off the berth and sat upright. He expected to be quizzed about the previous night's fire but Wheeljack just asked him if he was ready for a test flight.

"Sure," Starscream agreed. He stood up as Wheeljack deactivated the energon bars, and followed him out of the brig.

"Bit of excitement last night," Wheeljack said. "There was a fire in a cleaning closet." Other than watching Starscream intently, he gave no sign of distrust, but then it was hard to read his expression with that mask covering most of his face.

"Oh? That's the second fire in a few solar cycles, isn't it?"

"Yes. But you missed it, cooped up quietly in here."

"It _was_ quiet in here," Starscream said. "I had a good rest, though not enough to refuel me."

"No, I realise that," Wheeljack said. "Which is why Chromia has something for you in the control room. This way."

In the control room, Chromia was waiting for him, and behind her Ironhide hovered, practically giving off steam. Starscream felt the familiar tingle in his fingers as she piled several of the small energon cubes into his hands.

_I'll probably never see her again,_ he thought, and for a moment he panicked at the thought of leaving and what it would mean. Then logic took over. A calm descended on him, though he realised he felt slightly nervous. _That's unusual for me, Mister Brass-face himself, as the humans would say,_ he thought. "Th-thank you for looking after me," he murmured.

"My pleasure," Chromia answered. Her voice carried an edge, and he realised Chromia and Ironhide were regarding him with some suspicion. It was likely that they all knew what he'd been up to, but they might only suspect, in which case they couldn't really do much about it.

"Goodbye." He intercepted Ironhide's glare and dropped his own gaze to examine the floor. Its metal surface bore patterns intended to give better grip, and was similar to the floor of the _Nemesis_. He'd never noticed that before.

"Goodbye, Starscream."

"We need to try a test flight before he leaves," Wheeljack said. "Aren't you coming outside to finish off your assignment?"

_For Primus' sake, _Starscream thought, _we've already said goodbye. I can't go through that again. _He put up his hands as if warding her off. "You don't need to come outside, Chromia!"

"Damn right!" Ironhide muttered.

"That's right." Optimus stepped into the group. "There's no need. Let's go. Ratchet?"

"Thank Cybertron for that!" Starscream heard Ironhide mumble, as he followed Wheeljack and Optimus out of the control room, and for once, he agreed with him.

As they walked towards the exit, Starscream indicated the wrist inhibitor. "I guess you'll want this back?"

"Of course," Wheeljack said. "It's a prototype."

"Oh, but you've got another one, because you put one on Thundercracker."

"True. But I don't want to give you an opportunity to use it on any of

us!"

"I suppose you wouldn't," Starscream said with a grin, and removed the wristband and handed it back to Wheeljack.

"Okay, now, Ratchet," Optimus said, when they'd reached the exit.

Before Starscream realised what was happening the medic had fired something at him. He'd just had time to catch a glimpse of a long barrel extending from the medic's wrist in place of his right hand, and then it was no longer visible.

"What –?" Even as he spoke he realised what Ratchet had done. _They _must_ know about last night, then. Or if they're not sure, they're taking no chances._

He was even more sure when Optimus replied, "Just a precaution, Starscream. Don't forget about your energon."

He turned to Ratchet. "You zapped me with –"

"A low-intensity EMP. Yes. Don't worry, you'll still be able to fly."

"O-kaaay." Starscream checked his memories. Dimmed slightly, but still there. Including Chromia. _But they needn't know that._ He started on the energon. "Where did this come from?"

"We gave it to you," Optimus said, exchanging a glance with Ratchet. "So you can get home."

"Okay." Starscream shrugged and continued with his refuelling. "Why are you here, waiting?"

"We're going to run a test flight to make sure your repairs have fixed everything," Wheeljack reminded him. "We're not _quite_ as used as you 'Cons to repairing flight systems."

"I suppose not." Starscream finished his energon and added, "I'm ready." He put the emptied cubes on the ground.

Optimus nodded. "Let's go for it, then. Wheeljack?"

Wheeljack told Starscream what he wanted him do. He nodded. It wouldn't hurt to co-operate, as long as he could keep up the pretense of amnesia. He leapt into the air and followed the required course. When Wheeljack was satisfied with his performance he gave the prearranged signal, and with a cheeky wave of one arm, Starscream banked and headed for home.

Wheeljack had implied that, like the wristband, the EMP gun was still a prototype. _You didn't make the EMP blast quite strong enough, Ratchet,_ he thought. _But if you had, it would have wiped my memory of my feelings for Chromia, and that might have been beneficial for me._


	4. Chapter 4: Return to Cybertron

Undercover

Cleargold

Chapter 4: Return to Cybertron

_A/N: I've used "girls" to represent Cybertronian prostitutes, rather in the sense of "call girls", or of being familiar towards a group of females, as opposed to the more respectable-sounding "femmes"._

_For anyone who's not read _Megatron: Origin_, Clench organised illegal gladiatorial meetings in Kaon and Megatron sought employment with him. _

_[ ] denotes communication via an internal digital channel._

_To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so._

_Rating:__ M _

_Warning:__ Contains some violence, language, and adult themes._

_Genre:__ Hurt/comfort/Romance with some mech/femme activity. _

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own some OCs that appear later on._

_Acknowledgements: A big "Thanks" to Mirage Shinkiro for betaing for me, and Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud. _

The familiar metal tower rose from the waves, water streaming off it to rejoin the ocean. The entrance dropped down; Starscream transformed as he landed and stepped inside. He marched down the familiar corridor towards Megatron's control room. He was relieved to be back at the base, but as usual his emotions regarding Megatron were mixed. Over the previous few solar cycles he'd had a lot of time to think, but still hadn't decided if he'd forgiven the Decepticon leader. If Megatron hadn't accidentally damaged him and then abandoned him, he wouldn't have met Chromia again or be in his current situation.

He'd also had the chance to observe Optimus Prime and the other Autobots, and had come to the conclusion, not for the first time, that Optimus's leadership style was diametrically opposed to Megatron's. Where Megatron got obedience and allegiance because his Decepticons feared him, the way Optimus treated his Autobots inspired love and respect for him in them. Starscream was conscious of envying them for the way their leader behaved towards them, reminded that it emphasised his discomfort under Megatron's leadership.

In the control room, Megatron was seated before a console and barely looked up at him as he entered. Starscream's resentment flared again. "Megatron, by firing your fusion cannon so close by that it damaged me, and then abandoning me, you put me in the humiliating situation of having to ask the Autobots for help!" he complained.

Megatron burst out laughing. "But I'm sure you made _excellent_ use of your sick leave in the name of the Decepticon cause, which makes it all worthwhile!"

Outrage left Starscream gaping and temporarily speechless. Finally he managed, "So...it was all a set-up?"

"Laserbeak reported some strange events after the last time the Autobots made use of _our_ space bridge," Megatron replied, "and I wanted more information. That seemed the best way to get you into Autobot HQ, and it certainly worked."

Starscream closed his mouth. He might as well go with the flow and see where it took him. But Megatron's next words took him aback again.

"I've just had Optimus Prime call to let me know you were on your way back and request use of the space bridge in return. Why do you suppose he'd ask that?"

Starscream shook his head. "No idea. I figured he wanted something in exchange for repairing me, but I didn't realise it was that. Though actually..."

"What?"

"Well, I couldn't move about a lot for most of the time because of the damage I received, but the Autobots have some – unusual – reinforcements: four femmes, but they seem to be working on creating some more. They must be as sex-starved as we are, after all these vorns, so perhaps they've decided to do something about it –" He broke off, then added, "What did you tell Prime?"

"Nothing, so far. I thought I'd leave him to stew about it for a few orns."

Starscream considered this, then nodded. "Good plan. Megatron, I had a lot of time to think while I was at the _Ark_, and I've been wondering about something. Do you remember when Thundercracker, Skywarp and I first met you? You used to bring femmes in from local – er – establishments for your champions after the gladiatorial fights, and later on, our missions, and then it all suddenly stopped. Why was that?"

Megatron put back his head and regarded Starscream before answering. "It was really Clench who started that," he said, "though I'm not sure how long he'd been doing so before I went to him. I continued it for a while when I took control of the team, but then – well, things moved on a bit, and it didn't seem appropriate any more..."

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Starscream brought the image of a femme to mind, one he'd seen Megatron with several times. "I seem to remember I only ever saw you with one of the femmes – but every time they came to our base she went off with you. Was she your girlfriend?" It was a measure of his early awe of Megatron that he'd never dared ask such a question at the time.

"You mean...Dreamtime?"

"I don't know what her name was, but I remember you had a fight with someone over her."

"I remember that." Megatron smiled a ferocious smile to himself. "I was obliged to re-assert my authority. Yes, Dreamtime _was_ my girlfriend for a while, even though she worked in the brothel." Megatron rubbed a hand across his face, and the brooding expression Starscream remembered from that era settled on his features. "Not long after you three Seekers came to me, when I tried to make a booking the pimp sent a message that we'd have to go to the brothel instead of the girls coming to us. Obviously that was going to be impractical in the circumstances, especially since the security forces were looking for us by then, so I went to find out why things had suddenly changed.

"But the pimp wouldn't come out – he sent someone else to speak to me, probably his accountant, since he went by the name of Tallysheet. His attitude incensed me so I beat the slag out of him there and then. Then one of the girls came outside to find out what had happened to the fragger." Megatron's brow-ridges impacted together. "So I told her I'd decided not to get them in any more as it was impractical with the war starting." His features settled back into their usual mocking expression.

But Starscream had the feeling Megatron wasn't telling him everything. One question clamoured in his mind: _Why go to the brothel himself, and not send Soundwave or me, or one of the others? Especially since the security forces were particularly looking for him. _There must be some other reason why _he_ went, and he had a feeling it had to do with this Dreamtime. _But even if Megatron had some emotional attachment for her, he'd never tell me. He wouldn't trust me enough not to find a way to use it against him._ Starscream realised he was unlikely to ever get to know the real reason.

It certainly wouldn't be wise to ask. It might prompt questions on Megatron's part that Starscream couldn't answer without incriminating himself. He didn't even want to imagine what Megatron would do to him if he thought he'd got emotionally involved with an Autobot female. So to throw him off the scent, he changed the subject. "But Megatron, why can't _we_ bring some femmes to Earth as well?"

"Too dangerous for them," Megatron retorted.

"Optimus Prime obviously doesn't think so, and if the Autobots can, so can we, surely? Especially if he's building some more."

"No, it makes me wonder what his motives are for that...How far have they actually got?"

"They haven't completed them - I saw some of the frames," Starscream volunteered. "I think they're planning on creating about twenty new femmes."

"Hmm...I'd be interested to know what made Prime think it was OK to bring those four femmes to Earth."

"They probably provided some data for building the new femmes. They call it Project Aurora." He wondered what Megatron had in store for his next mission; hopefully nothing where he'd either have to see or fight Chromia, at least until he'd been able to put the whole experience behind him. "Also, some of the Autobots wanted to see their girlfriends, I gather." Starscream remembered Chromia's expression as she'd told him that, and had to clamp down on the memory to exile it to the back of his data bank.

"And presumably the others who don't have girlfriends wanted some?"

Starscream shrugged. "I suppose so, not being on intimate enough terms to ask any of them."

Megatron leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands behind his head, and met Starscream's gaze. "Well, Starscream, to borrow a phrase from the flesh creatures, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander." A slight smile curved his lips. "And _we_ might have more to gain from it than the Autobots, at least in terms of public relations."

Starscream could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Meg – Megatron, are you saying we _should_ bring some femmes here?"

"No, Starscream. I'm saying _you_ should go to Cybertron and find some."

Eerily, Starscream wondered if Megatron had read his mind just astroseconds before. He allowed a slow grin to twist his mouth. _Just the job for me right now!_

"Take Thundercracker and Skywarp with you, and if you find lots of them, you can use the space bridge," Megatron added.

"That's probably wishful thinking, isn't it?"

*

Starscream stepped out of the space bridge, followed by Skywarp and Thundercracker. Shockwave stood before them, blaster arm raised.

"Ah, Shockwave! Did Megatron not warn you that we were coming?" Starscream asked, his tone sly.

"No," Shockwave said, "and as you haven't brought any energon with you, I consider it a waste of this resource!"

"Well, if we're successful there'll be a consignment going the other way," Starscream said.

"Successful in what mission?"

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know?" Starscream half-turned to his fellow Seekers. "C'mon, you two!"

The three of them transformed and flew through the ceiling. Starscream glanced back. Shockwave was staring after them in outrage and brushing swarf and debris off his shoulders. Starscream let out a whoop as he spun away from the building. "That's shocked Shockwave!" he chuckled. The others laughed their exultation as they followed him. "Onward!"

Dusk was falling as the three Seekers swooped above the city of Kaon. The few remaining undamaged neon signs flickered and buzzed into life, advertising their wares, although the war had led to the demise of Cybertronian commerce millions of stellar cycles before.

Starscream plunged down to land on the span of a bridge over layers of buildings and roads, many pitted with missile fire or with sections missing, and waved the others to set down beside him. He stared down into the void before him. Just ten levels down a row of still-functional signs told of a small commercial area.

"That might be a good place to start looking," he said, pointing.

"What are we going to do if we find any girls?" Skywarp asked. "We ought to have a plan."

"I have one," Starscream said. "But we'll worry about putting it into action when we find some femmes." He'd been scanning the signs as he spoke, and pointed again. "There. Look!" The sign showed, quite unmistakably, a female Transformer in a suggestive pose. "Let's go!"

They launched themselves downwards and landed on a street which looked almost undamaged. Starscream marched up to the door below the sign. It opened easily – too easily. Starscream grabbed the door to stop himself from falling into the panorama of serpentine metal streets that stretched and intertwined below him.

Thundercracker caught his other arm and yanked him backwards by reflex. "Let's try somewhere else."

"Lower," suggested Skywarp. "There's another lot of signs down there." He pointed into the chasm.

Starscream nodded, and leapt into the void, transforming as he went, the other Seekers following. _At least we know what to expect now,_ he thought, _and appearances are obviously misleading here! _He swooped down towards the next row of signs and remembered how deep the levels went.

Landing, they strolled along the road, scanning the signs.

"Nothing here," Starscream said with a shake of his head. "Where's the next level?"

"Down there," Skywarp pointed. "Well, you didn't think it was going to be easy, did you?"

Starscream didn't answer. He was already back in the air and heading for the next apparently undamaged commercial area.

"Starscream!"

He turned. "What?"

"What if we're looking in the wrong place?" Thundercracker drew level with him.

"What d'you mean? We've only just started looking. We check these out first, and then move to other areas."

Thundercracker shrugged. "Okay."

"Well, what were you going to suggest?"

"I just thought we're pretty unlikely to find any femmes in any obvious places. They've probably all been destroyed already, especially on the upper levels."

"You're probably right. So what _were_ you going to suggest?"

"Go straight to the lowest levels and ask someone?"

"You could try it, but d'you really think the locals are going to let on where their squeezes hang out? After all, we probably count as foreigners now!" But Starscream considered the idea further. "Tell you what, I'll carry on checking out these commercial areas, you and Skywarp try out your idea, and we'll keep in contact."

"Skywarp?"

"Okay." The other two Seekers dived off into the distance.

Starscream turned his attention back to the rapidly-approaching row of signs. But none of them showed the kind of image he was seeking. He spiralled down further into the void. _I'll probably end up down with the others,_ he thought, _but here goes!_ He flew past the parade, spotted a likely sign and landed on the ledge left by a past episode of destruction. The sign buzzed on and off above him. He swung the door open.

The building was intact, but dark. He tried knocking on the door to see if he could attract anyone's attention.

The silence attenuated inside the building. "Anyone here?" he called.

There was no reply. He turned and left.

*

Two solar cycles later, they were still looking. Starscream had worked his way down to the lower levels and rejoined his fellow Seekers, checking every likely sign on the way, plus a few others. When they'd met up again, they'd begun to scan for life forms at each level, since the city seemed abnormally quiet.

"Perhaps there really are no more femmes on Cybertron now," Thundercracker suggested.

"I suppose it's possible," Starscream conceded, "though hopefully not likely."

"It wouldn't be fair if the only femmes on the planet were Autobots, now, would it?" Thundercracker mused. "Although it's _totally_ deserted, not just lacking in femmes!"

"Actually," Starscream said thoughtfully, "you're right, and I'm beginning to wonder why. Before we followed the Autobots into space Kaon still had a thriving black market economy, right here under the shadow of our fortress. It isn't just because of the war – it's almost as if something's happened here that's made the inhabitants of Kaon terrified to go out in the open."

"Why are we looking for femmes and not fighting, though?" asked Skywarp.

"Don't you want a girlfriend?" Starscream asked.

"Hmm. I suppose so. Why, do you?"

"Yes, of _course_!" he said, suppressing the image of Chromia that tried to appear on his heads-up display. _I've no intention of letting knowledge of my feelings for Chromia get back to Megatron,_ he thought. _He knew he couldn't even trust his trine with information like that. _"Now, let's move on."

They were already on the lowest level, but this part of the city appeared deserted, and it was also fairly dark; light couldn't penetrate much so far down.

"If there _are_ any girls here, they'll most likely be where there are plenty of potential customers," Thundercracker said.

"You're on form today, TC! That's the second sensible thing you've said in the last breem." Starscream wondered why he hadn't thought of it himself. "I'll scan for life forms."

The scan told him there were some Transformers just south of their present position. "Let's head south," he said.

Although the scan had shown life forms, there were still no Transformers visible. So when Starscream finally spotted a Cybertronian vehicle he stepped into the street to stop it.

The vehicle screeched to a halt just inches from Starscream. "Are you crazy or what?"

"I'm looking for a femme," Starscream said. "Where can I find one?"

"You and the rest of Cybertron," the vehicle muttered.

"Come on, there must be some left alive!"

"I know you!" the vehicle said. "You're Starscream of the Decepticons." Part-transforming, he peered at him. "Though I haven't seen you in vorns, and your design is strange –"

Starscream knew he had to push the advantage home, especially since the vehicle bore a strange marking, neither Decepticon nor Autobot. He raised his arm and prepared to fire his null ray.

"No need to shoot," the vehicle said, transforming an arm and extending it as if to ward off Starscream's fire. "I'll tell you where to try, though I don't know if they're still there."

Starscream did not lower his arm. "I'm waiting," he said.

"Okay. Try that building over there." He pointed down the street at a deserted-looking apartment block, unadorned with any sign.

"Are you sure?" Starscream asked.

"Yes."

"Don't they advertise?"

"They don't need to – anyone who wants to find them knows where to look."

"Thundercracker, investigate," Starscream ordered. He kept his arm raised. "If you don't find any girls, tell me and I'll shoot him."

Thundercracker crossed the road, went to the building and entered warily. A few moments later he emerged and gave a thumbs-up signal.

"All right, you can go about your business," Starscream said, reluctant to engage the vehicle in battle for once. That wasn't his purpose at present. _Why the strange marking?_ But there was no time for speculation. He and Skywarp walked over to the building.

"They're here," Thundercracker said. "Three of them." He grinned. "One for each of us, I guess."

They entered the building. Inside, at the back of the small room, the three female Transformers stood waiting in a circle of dim light cast by lamps. Behind them a passage led to a further suite of rooms, judging by the doors Starscream glimpsed, and he could just make out a staircase which led to an upper floor.

"What'll it be, boys?" one of them said.

Starscream studied them. The one who had spoken was slightly-built, with wide-set optics and a pale lilac smile to match her bodywork. Her companions were a pale orange and a bluish-green. All were pretty, and all bore the strange symbol on their chassis. "I'm Starscream." He indicated the others and gave their designations.

"You're Decepticons, aren't you?" the lilac femme said. "I'm Shadowkiss. This is Hotstuff." She indicated her turquoise friend. "And Tendertouch." The pale orange one.

"We aren't your usual clients," he said. "We've come to take you with us to Earth."

Shadowkiss put her hands out in front of her. "Oh, you can't take us away from here," she said.

"Why not?" Starscream asked.

All expression left her face. She looked over her shoulder at the entrance to the rooms behind her, and then around the room, before adding in a whisper, "We look after a sick friend."

"What's wrong with your friend?" Thundercracker asked, his voice quiet. "Perhaps we could heal her if she came with us as well."

"She lost a leg at the beginning of the war and can't work."

"That's a long time to go without getting fixed," Starscream commented. "But it would be easy enough to repair your friend if you came with us."

"To serve as prostitutes for the Decepticons on – some other planet?" Hotstuff countered, looking around the room and at the stairs behind her before speaking. "We wouldn't want to do that."

"How would that be any different from what you do here?" Starscream demanded. "Look, girls, Earth is a completely different place from Cybertron, and I can promise you that your presence there would really be appreciated."

The three femmes laughed. "But we're really appreciated here," Shadowkiss said.

"We'd only be interested in going if we could better ourselves," Tendertouch added. "We just want to be like ordinary femmes."

_How am I going to persuade them?_ Starscream wondered. He hadn't anticipated that they would want to stay on Cybertron, and didn't want to make rash promises that Megatron would then refuse to honour, but nor did he know of any major selling points that would make Earth seem a more attractive proposition than Cybertron.

"Girls, what is it?"

The voice was deep and masculine, and the footsteps that sounded from the staircase were heavy and deliberate.

The lilac female's face closed. "Nothing, Stomp. We're just talking to some customers."

The footsteps got closer. Starscream saw the femmes' faces become expressionless again. _They're scared of him,_ he realised. _That's my selling point._ He raised his voice. "You must come with me, all of you!" he said.

The owner of the footsteps appeared in the dim doorway behind the females. "You're not taking any of _my_ girls anywhere!"

"Oh no?"

"No." Stomp stepped into the lighted circle. He was almost as tall as Starscream, but much broader and heavier, and the caterpillar tracks of a treaded vehicle rose above his shoulders. Starscream was reminded of Megatron's Cybertronian alt mode.

On his chest he bore the same marking as the vehicle Starscream had stopped in the street: a circle with the silhouette of a fist enclosed in it.

Starscream had surveyed the room and could see that there was little space for fighting. But there were three of them and only one of Stomp, and besides, they were used to fighting, while the pimp might not be. He opened a channel for digital communication with the femmes. [Stomp can't pick up this communication,] he told them. [Go and get your friend. Be ready to go, but keep out of the way.] And he raised his null ray and fired.

Stomp dodged the volley with surprising ease. "This brings back memories of the arena!" he grunted. His hand disappeared inside the armour plating at his wrist and was replaced by a gun. "Don't take on what you can't beat, stranger!"

"I shouldn't be a stranger to you," Starscream muttered, ducking to escape the shot. "I'm Starscream of the Decepticons, and I want to know about this strange marking the locals wear!"

"That's easy – they belong to me!"

"Kaon was the Decepticons' stronghold," Starscream retorted. "And Megatron won't take kindly to having to retake the city." He feinted and grabbed Stomp's wrist, then slammed the front edge of his shoulder against the pimp. He felt something give in Stomp's chest, and hoped it was important. But there was no time to follow up the thought. Stomp shoved his gun wrist against Starscream's cockpit, trying to smash the glass.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Starscream yanked on the wrist and shoved the arm up in the air. "That's only just been fixed." He thrust his leg between Stomp's and round behind his ankle, and pushed. Stomp crashed to the floor.

"Well, don't just stand there watching!" Starscream said to his trine. He knelt on Stomp's chest and thumped him on the jaw, hard enough to put him temporarily offline. "Thundercracker – get those girls. Skywarp, find some means of securing him." He sat on Stomp's chest to stop him from moving if he came back online.

Thundercracker reappeared with the femmes just as Skywarp returned with an inhibitor claw and an archaic-looking wrist restraint. "I found this in one of the private rooms," he said. "There were some other weird things there, too – electric lashes and the like. Looks like Stomp caters to some strange tastes!"

"I remember these things," Starscream said. "Let's get them on him quickly – looks like he might be coming back online."

By the time they'd put the restraints on Stomp he was almost fully conscious again.

"We could kill him now," Skywarp suggested.

"No. We'll just leave him here as a message to his followers, otherwise someone else will just step in to fill the vacuum." Starscream stared down at him for a moment. "The local crime lord," he murmured. "I'll let Megatron know about _you_!" He fired his null ray at Stomp to put him offline again, then turned to the waiting femmes and Thundercracker. The injured femme was partly supported by one of the others, partly by a makeshift crutch. Almost all of her left leg had gone. It ended in a jagged stump which sizzled and crackled at the exposed electrical fittings. "What's your designation?" he asked her.

"Dreamtime."

"Come on, then, _ladies_ – we're going to Earth!"

*

Dreamtime stared at the prone form of the big mech who'd been her friends' pimp, then looked hard at the three Seeker mechs. They all _looked_ familiar, but she couldn't place them until she noticed the Decepticon symbol they all bore. Then she remembered. The silver and red flier seemed to be their leader. She turned to him.

"Megatron. You mentioned Megatron," she said to him. "Is he still –"

"Functioning?" Starscream's upper lip quirked into a lopsided grin which held amusement and mockery.

"Yes. Is he?"

"Yes. But we've been on Earth for the last 4 million years, deactivated in a crash-landing until...recently. And even more recently we decided we needed a little female company – some home comforts, you might say."

"You talked about – Earth – before, is it –"

"Organic-based life, different solar system, not too far away, though. Let's go!"

"Er – Starscream, aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?"

The mech with the blue paint job gestured towards Dreamtime. "She can't walk, or transform, and we don't have enough space to carry any of them in comfort in these forms – never mind all of them!"

Starscream nodded and waved a hand at the third Seeker. "Which is why Skywarp's going to teleport us back to the space bridge."

"Hang on, Starscream! I'm not so sure I can teleport everyone at once."

"Shall we try?"

It seemed Starscream was in no mood for opposition.

Skywarp shrugged. "Best if we make a circle, then, and hold hands. But we might need to do a couple of jumps."

Dreamtime found her hand being taken into a larger masculine one. "No, hold my wrist," she said, and gripped the crutch when Skywarp released her hand. Her other arm tightened around Shadowkiss's waist for support. She wasn't sure what to expect, and even with the crutch her balance was poor.

"Hold tight, everyone!" Skywarp called, and in an instant the familiar surroundings of the brothel winked out of existence.


	5. Chapter 5: Shock

Undercover

Cleargold

Chapter 5: Shock

_A/N: In _Megatron: Origin_, after making his first kill in the arena, Megatron removed his helmet and four gold and black, elaborately decorated plates unfolded and extended out from his head, two on top and one at either side, to much cheering and applause from the audience. _

_In particle physics, a kaon is a charged particle with a property called strangeness._

_Warning: lemon alert, so if you don't like, don't read! And it may not be quite what you expect..._

_To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so._

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own the OCs in this story._

_Acknowledgements: As ever, many thanks to Mirage Shinkiro for betaing for me, and Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud.  
_

_I wonder where that no-good Starscream's got to, and what he's been up to!_ Using his stabilising servos Megatron pushed his workstation chair over to the left of the main control console and idly flicked the screen on. _No sign of any of them inside the base or in the water or the air above._ He fed in the co-ordinates for the space bridge. The view changed.

_Empty. I should never have trusted him to go back to Cybertron. He's probably decided to stay there and carve out a nice little empire for himself._ He flicked the screen off again in disgust.

"Starscream to Megatron. Starscream to Megatron. Do you copy? Over."

Megatron thought for a moment that he'd imagined that voice. Then reality reasserted itself. "I read you, Starscream. Over."

"Request permission to enter headquarters. There are seven of us. Over."

_Well, what do you know? He did it._ "Permission granted, Starscream." Megatron tried to keep the surprise out of his voice. He operated the switch which would send the entry tower rising out of the water. "Report to the control room. Out."

A few astroseconds later he heard the approach of several Transformers down the corridor, though one seemed not to walk in rhythm with the others. As the door opened he got up out of his chair and turned to face them.

Starscream stepped into the control room, looking around him, and locked gaze with Megatron. Then he turned and beckoned, stepping to one side. The others crowded into the room, the Seekers standing back from the femmes.

"Megatron," Starscream said, "may I present Shadowkiss, Hotstuff and Tendertouch..."

Megatron rested his optics on each femme in turn, noting that each bore a symbol on her chassis – a fist in a circle – but his gaze came back to the pale yellow one half-leaning on Shadowkiss.

"...And Dreamtime."

"You," he said, his voice thickening with shock. "You're still alive!" and it was as if the room were empty but for the two of them.

"Yes."

As if from a great distance Megatron heard Starscream say, "I promised her we'd rebuild her leg."

"Fine," he replied, without really registering the conversation. A part of him recognised the signs of shock in his system and began a diagnostic sweep. He never once took his optics off Dreamtime. "Make sure they get good private quarters, Starscream."

As Starscream and the others trooped away, Megatron sought his chair, rocking it as he flopped into it. _Well, well, well! Not only did Starscream find some femmes, but one of them's Dreamtime,_ he mused. _I wonder if that injury is why she stopped seeing me?_

_And if so, is she willing to take up where we left off?_

*

Starscream rapped smartly on the control room door.

"Come!"

He entered and crossed the room to where the Decepticon leader stood facing the window, apparently deep in thought. The ocean glared back at them.

"Ah, Starscream." Megatron roused himself from his reverie. "Since you did such a good job in finding those four femmes, I've decided to reward you with a further task."

Starscream was shocked. _Megatron, pleased with something I've done? Or is he just being sarcastic? _"What task is that, Megatron?"

"I'll explain at the end of this meeting. There are a few other things I want to discuss as a result of your debriefing yesterday. Now, about this symbol on the girls' chassis."

"It's Stomp's symbol."

"I want to know more about this Stomp. Yesterday you said that he virtually runs Kaon, yet our fortress is there, and Shockwave would never let a piece of junk like _that_ take control of the city under his watchful optic. How did he get so much – power?"

Starscream guessed he'd hesitated over the use of that word because he begrudged acknowledging Stomp's influence. He might have done the same, in Megatron's position. He shrugged. "I'm only repeating what he told me." He explained about the mech he'd stopped in the street. "I asked what it was, and Stomp said, 'It means they belong to me.' I don't know how much power he actually has, but it sounds like quite a bit. He definitely has people who are loyal to him. But I don't know about the general population." He hesitated. Shockwave always seemed to have Megatron's approval, but it seemed as if he'd allowed the crime lord to gain the ascendancy – _if_ Stomp was to be believed. He decided to push the advantage home. "After all, we've been here on Earth for four million years, so it's nothing to do with us. But as you say, Shockwave must have known about him." He wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to drop a rival in the slag. He could have rubbed his servos together with glee, except that Megatron would be quick to notice his body language and would realise what he was up to. _Shockwave's so in love with logic, he hasn't got even an astroquart of interest in interfacing. He's probably never even been with a femme – and anyway, who'd be interested in him? So he's unlikely to have noticed if a pimp evolved into a crime lord under the eaves of our base in Kaon._ "Well, why don't you ask Shockwave why he let Stomp become so powerful?"

"I intend to." Megatron seated himself and put through a call to Shockwave.

Shockwave's image appeared onscreen. "Megatron –"

"Shockwave. Starscream's trine brought four femmes to Earth a couple of days ago, and it appears from what Starscream's told me – and according to the girls themselves – that the owner of the brothel they came from is a powerful mech in Kaon. What do you know about Stomp?"

Anyone else might have shrugged, but Soundwave never fidgeted, or even moved. His single optic never wavered as he met Megatron's gaze. "I'm aware of the existence of Stomp's organisation, but I have more important concerns than a petty criminal's aspirations to power. My main concern is, and has been, where the energon to power the base, and our operations, is going to come from –"

"I don't care for social climbers. If anyone should be calling the shots in Kaon it should be us. What do you know about Stomp?"

"Not a great deal, but I can find out more about him if you wish."

"I want to know names. Activities. The extent of his influence. Starscream decided not to kill him because he thought it might leave a power vacuum on the ground, so I want to know about his opposition too." Megatron paused, then added, "I won't let this ride."

"Indeed. I'll get the information you want, Megatron." Shockwave saluted and the screen went dark.

Megatron rose, and wandered back to his place at the window. He stood staring at the ocean outside for several cycles, rubbing his chin with his fore- and middle fingers, before murmuring, "Hmm. And the girls have the same symbol."

"Well, why don't you ask them, too?"

Megatron snapped his fingers. "Now that's not a bad idea, either."

"Yes, they probably saw it from the inside." Starscream hesitated for an astrosecond, then asked, "By the way, was that – _your_ Dreamtime?"

Megatron inclined his head.

"I thought so." _Perhaps it wasn't _just_ sarcasm earlier, then._ "And are you...taking up where you left off?"

"Why – are you interested?"

Starscream didn't reply at first, wondering what it would be wise to say and leave unsaid. His distrust of Megatron grew exponentially as he imagined what his leader would do to him if he knew of his feelings for an Autobot female. So he simply shook his head. "I'm just curious. From what they told us, she's been unable to work for the last nine million years and the other girls have looked after her. They hid her to protect her from that pimp. Meantime, they've been forced to do awful things for his customers."

"Don't be naive, Starscream! They're whores. Any risks they take –" Megatron spread his hands, then let them drop to his sides and turned back to his examination of the ocean.

"I _know_, " Starscream said to his back. _But you'll find out when you talk to them,_ he thought. It was obvious to him that Megatron wasn't really seeing the dark sea, the occasional drifting fronds of seaweed or the light that penetrated from above to glint off fishscales, and that his attention was focused inwards. _He's probably thinking about how Stomp came to exert as much power as he does in Kaon_.

Megatron abruptly turned away from his reflection in the dark window. Facing Starscream he said, "By the way, I want you to make it quite clear to anyone that asks, or shows the slightest bit of interest, that Dreamtime is _not_ available."

"O-kaay," Starscream said. "So – does _that_ mean you're going to take up where you left off?"

"When I want you or anyone else to know what my intentions are concerning Dreamtime I'll call a press conference!" Megatron pointed at him. "And I want you to teach them to shoot and a few elementary battle tactics."

So that was the task Megatron had called him here for. Starscream made no attempt to quell the pride that flowed through his circuits. _At least he picked the best of us. But I thought they were to provide some relaxation in off-duty moments._ "I hadn't realised you wanted them for – reinforcements, Megatron."

Megatron shot him a look that said, _amongst other things_. "I want them to at least be able to defend themselves in case the Autobots attack us while they're here."

"That...would be sensible," Starscream agreed. "I'll start next Earth week."

"No, no, no. They'll need to start as soon as Dreamtime's steady on her feet. I want them to be able to shoot and fight in a week's time."

"You don't think that's pushing them too hard?" Starscream was sure the girls would want to settle down before learning new skills, especially bearing in mind how terrified they'd been of Stomp. "They've only just arrived, and –"

Megatron's brow-ridges crashed together. "Don't question my decisions!"

Starscream felt a blast of indignation on the girls' behalf. "But Megatron, Dreamtime isn't even walking yet! Surely you can't expect her to –"

"If the Autobots attacked us here they'd have to be able to defend themselves."

"I think it's highly unlikely that they'll attack right now. They've got their hands full with their Project Aurora." _Megatron's too impatient,_ Starscream thought_._ "Let the girls get used to our base. They were very afraid of Stomp."

As usual, Megatron wasn't listening to him. "I need them...functional. As soon as possible."

"You mean you want them to be whores for the Decepticon movement on Earth. They told us they didn't want that." His voice was flat, but Starscream could feel his anger building up. But for once he decided not to argue. It was tiring, providing the opposition for Megatron to snipe at. _I'll make myself a small target this time, even if it makes my job more difficult because the girls start to hate him for putting them under pressure._ There was no time for Starscream to wonder at how protective he felt towards the girls, but he almost regretted bringing them to Earth. "Well, just remember that they're not Decepticons – at least, not yet. Nor are they prisoners. You can't _order_ them to do anything, including going with any of us." He sketched a salute and left the room, but behind him came a muttered, "Thanks for that, Starscream," as he left.

_Every time I talk to Megatron he winds me up!_ Starscream stalked away from the control room, almost colliding with Skywarp in his anger.

"Steady on, Starscream!"

"Oh, it's you. D'you know where the girls are?"

"Yes, they're with Dreamtime right now. Hook's finished rebuilding her leg and she's going to try to walk again. I came to tell Megatron – and you, of course."

_But only as an afterthought._ Starscream's resentment climbed even higher. "I'll be there soon, but I've got something to do first."

Skywarp acknowledged that and strode off towards the control room.

Starscream wasn't sure what had happened to them, but he'd noticed something different about the way the four femmes responded to him and the other mechs – something neither Skywarp nor Thundercracker, nor any of the others, seemed to have picked up on. He was certain he wouldn't have noticed it had he not had the recent contact with Chromia and the other Autobot femmes. And perhaps something of the Autobots' respect for femmes had rubbed off on him while he'd been at the Ark. So he continued on his way, knowing he needed to calm down before he could deal sensitively with them. He was used to squashing down the feelings of resentment Megatron routinely aroused in him. _But what if it escapes this time? What if they ask me about it?_ An angry mech was probably _not _what they needed right now. _Not if Megatron wants co-operation from them. _

He made his way to the leisure complex, where the shooting range was located. Inside it, Soundwave and several of his minions were practising. They'd long ago replaced the usual bullseye targets with images of Optimus Prime and some of his followers, and Soundwave, Rumble and Laserbeak were trying to hit the Autobot targets in the sensitive places and chinks in their armour plating that would give them higher scores. Since the Cybertronian femmes bore only Stomp's insignia – and it seemed more a stamp of ownership in their case – Starscream had no idea whether any of them would be offended by this, so he made a mental note not to use the images, at least to start with, as he crossed to the booking facility.

"Come and join us, Starscream!" Rumble invited.

"I've only come to make a booking," Starscream said. And he did just that and hurried back.

In the medbay, Dreamtime was about to take her first tentative steps. Thundercracker and Skywarp stood watching, along with Hook and the other three femmes. Across from them, the door opened and Megatron slipped in, unnoticed by all but Starscream and Dreamtime.

Megatron's optics were fixed on Dreamtime as she stepped forwards, still leaning on the crutch for support, but putting her weight tentatively on the replaced limb. She limped towards him, one step at a time, until she stood before him, a little smile on her lips. Starscream wasn't sure whether it was a smile of pleasure, concentration, pain or nervousness. Megatron was the first to start clapping, but the other femmes, and then all of them, took it up as well.

"Excellent, Dreamtime!" Megatron added to Hook, "Well done. She looks like she just stepped off the assembly line."

Hook acknowledged that with a slight incline of his head.

"Won't she need to practice walking to get her balance back?" Shadowkiss asked. "Don't forget, she's barely walked at all for something like nine million years, and when she did her balance was all out. A crutch can't really replace the weight of a leg –"

"She will need to practice," Hook said. "But she can do that with you, in your quarters. Recovery won't take too long – a couple of orns at most." He turned and spoke directly to Dreamtime. "But I want you to stop using the crutch by this evening."

"This _evening?_ It's already midday."

"The only reason you even need it now is psychological dependence," Hook pointed out. "You won't miss it by tomorrow. There's nothing wrong with your equilibrium chip – I checked while you were offline."

Megatron turned to face all four femmes. "You must learn something else as well, girls. All of you."

"What do you need us to learn, Megatron?" Dreamtime's smile had widened, though to Starscream she still seemed nervous. That was understandable, since she was in a different situation, and still had some way to go to becoming fully confident of her mobility.

"You must be able to defend yourselves if the Autobots attack us here," Megatron said. "Starscream will teach you all to shoot, starting as soon as Dreamtime is steady on her feet."

"Of course, Megatron. Though – we didn't have to fight on Cybertron –" Tendertouch said.

Hotstuff raised her hands as if to push Megatron's idea away. "We don't know anything about fighting –"

"That's _exactly_ why Starscream is going to teach you," Megatron said. "You could be vulnerable here, and I'd be neglecting my duty towards you if I didn't give you the means to defend yourselves, should it be necessary."

Dreamtime protested, "But – our original programming didn't –"

"No 'buts'. You must all be able to take care of yourselves, should that become necessary." Megatron turned to face Dreamtime. "And by the way, I'd like to meet with you the night after tomorrow, if your repairs and training don't leave you too tired."

"I – should be okay for that."

"Good, I'll see you at my quarters at nine o'clock, Earth time. Starscream can show you the way."

*

Megatron cast a glance around his quarters. As usual they were clean and tidy, but tonight it seemed something was missing_. I wonder if she still likes music? _"Computer, play the Magnetosphere Suite, first movement." It wasn't a favourite of his – he preferred music with more impact – but he remembered Dreamtime had liked it. The delicate notes filtered into the room, reminding him of starlight and moonrise – things he hadn't thought about in vorns. Since becoming leader of the Decepticon movement he hadn't considered it appropriate to make anyone else comfortable in his presence. But he let the music play, even as he mentally shook his head at himself, and noted, and wondered about, her impact on his behaviour. The piece had reached the middle of the first movement when there came a knock on the door.

"Come," he said. The door slid open.

Dreamtime stood in the corridor, peering around his quarters. He saw her optics widen as she noticed the fusion cannon he'd detached from his arm and placed in the corner near his recharge berth. "I – you wanted to see me?"

"Yes."

In astroseconds Megatron took in the twin powerbulges, outlined in gold, which augmented her chassis; the orange lips which sparkled gold in the corridor lighting; the pale yellow paintwork, which was strangely free of the scratches all Transformers bore along the edges of their various panels and parts due to the transformation process. _But she's just been repaired._ He strolled over to the doorway and slipped a hand under her elbow to guide her inside the room.

She didn't resist, and he wondered then if the only damage she'd received had been to her leg. He quite vividly remembered her spirited personality; after all, it had been what had attracted him to her in the first place.

"How are your quarters?"

"Fine, thank you."

She didn't seem all that enthusiastic about them, but he let that pass. They were almost guaranteed not to be what the femmes were used to, though he doubted they'd lived in luxury on the ruined Cybertron. "And your shooting lessons?"

"Starscream's a good teacher. Very patient with all of us. We're all trying hard to learn."

"Starscream – patient?" he echoed. "He's normally just the opposite – impulsive, and doesn't always engage processor before speaking or doing. Something must have happened to him." _Could the Autobots have done something to him while he was there?_ Starscream hadn't mentioned anything to suggest that during the debriefing, but then he was secretive by nature –

"He's _very_ patient with us. He even told Astrotrain not to hassle Tendertouch about her aim."

"Astrotrain?"

"He was there with the other Seekers and – Blitzwing, is it? They were practicing too. So after a little while Astrotrain and Thundercracker and Skywarp came over to help Starscream."

Megatron frowned. _That wasn't part of my original instructions to Starscream._ He let that pass, too. "I thought you seemed a bit subdued. Starscream and his flightmates haven't been pushing you all too hard today, have they?"

"They did make us work hard," she admitted. "I was a bit surprised when they all started helping us, but it was good for each of us to have an instructor. Then after a while I realised that Thundercracker, Skywarp and Astrotrain were trying to get relationships going with Shadowkiss, Hotstuff and Tendertouch! Because of that I had individual help from Starscream. But at least they don't have a constant stream of customers." She shivered as if accessing a bad memory.

"And – what about you?" _If anyone tries to court her I'll kill them. _A part of him recognised the absurdity of that thought. _I'm the leader of the Decepticons. I don't _do_ long-term relationships. So why should I care so much? It's all such a long time ago now. _Nevertheless, he had to know. "Has anyone tried to get a relationship going with _you_?"

"No, but then I only started walking again three orns ago."

Megatron watched her keenly. "Not even Starscream?"

She looked surprised. "Starscream? No, of course not. He's not the least bit interested in me in that way."

_Hmm. It was his idea to bring some femmes to Earth yet he hasn't tried to form a relationship with any of them. Interesting. _Of course, he _had_ warned him off.

The sound textures swelled and billowed around them like magnetic field lines, and he was aware of an ache in his spark: the pain of long-suppressed emotions reawakening. Perhaps the music had been a mistake. After all, she didn't even seem to have noticed it.

But he let this pass as well, because Dreamtime was backing toward the door, face expressionless. "Will that be all, Megatron?"

She was preparing to leave. _How could she think I've dismissed her? I must stop her._ He stepped in front of her and stood with his back against the door. After all, he'd made sure there was no barrier to him restarting the relationship he'd had with her all those stellar cycles ago. "Dreamtime, I want you to stay here with me tonight."

She was still moving towards the door.

Megatron rarely removed his helm, even to recharge. The last time he'd publicly removed it he'd grabbed the attention of the watching crowd in the arena as he stood over his first kill. _Primus, _please_ let it stop her from leaving!_ Almost as an involuntary movement, his hands reached up and lifted off his helmet. As the decorated panels unfurled from either side and the top of his head, he watched her reaction.

Her golden optics gleamed, perhaps with memories – or was it just the slight iridescence of the glass? He couldn't tell. _Does she remember?_ he wondered. His free hand found her shoulder. "Don't leave. Stay here with me tonight."

"Yes, Megatron."

"I didn't mean it as an order." He took her hand. "And I don't remember you as being submissive or timid." _Perhaps it's just too long ago,_ he thought. He tried to pull her closer, but she didn't respond in the way that she had when he'd known her before. "Dreamtime? Are you okay with staying here with me tonight?"

"Yes, of course. That's fine."

She said it almost automatically. _She didn't even look at me,_ Megatron thought._ There's something strange here._ _It's almost as if her personality chip has been tampered with – or even removed. _He put the helm down on his workstation and cupped her face in his hands so that she had to look at him. "Is it _really_ all right? I'm not looking for blind obedience here. I want you to go with me, and if it's _not_ all right with you, tell me."

This time she looked into his optics. "It _is_ all right, Megatron. As long as you realise that I haven't been with anyone else since you, which is a very long time."

"I'm actually quite glad of that! But how did you survive all that time if you couldn't work?"

"The others kept me offline to conserve energy for part of the time. They had to get a backstreet surgeon to make a repair to stop the loss from my fuel lines. The rest of the time they shared their own energon with me. It was – difficult. Stomp –" Her face became blank for a moment. "He wanted me to work even though I'd been injured. He said there were mechs who'd pay more to go with me in that state, so the others hid me and said I'd died of my injuries. They got a beating for it –"

Even to his ears his voice sounded loud and forceful against the sprinkling of notes at the end of the movement as he said, "It must have been awful for you."

She shuddered. "It was."

"Dreamtime, how did you get injured?" He'd been wondering about that ever since she'd limped into his control room three orns before.

"A bomb exploded beside me."

"An Autobot bomb?"

"I was hit in a Decepticon raid." But there was no expression on her face, no anger, no strong emotion.

"Oh, frag!" Megatron put an arm around her. "I...want to make up for that. Come and lie down over here with me."

"Okay..." She let him lead her to the berth. They climbed onto it and lay down together.

Megatron encircled her with his arms. She didn't resist, so he pressed his cheek against her face. With one hand he stroked her head. "I'm glad you're here now," he said. "When I came to the brothel to see you they told me you wouldn't see me again. I never found out why, but was it the injury?"

"That did have a lot to do with it," Dreamtime said with a wry smile. "As my friends had said I'd died I couldn't very well be seen leaving the brothel!" She caught his hand and examined it. "I remember when you lost that arm in a fight," she said, "and I didn't know, and I came to see you. You – well, you weren't in a very good mood that night – I thought you were cross with me. You were being repaired with bits and pieces from other gladiators." She shuddered. "It was like walking into a war zone."

"I wasn't exactly expecting you to turn up just then, and I didn't particularly enjoy you seeing me in that condition."

"Of course not." She turned to look at him. "I might have been the same, had anyone looked at me."

"So no-one has seen you since your – accident – apart from Stomp and your friends?"

"Well, you, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp three cycles ago. Hook too, I suppose..."

"We're even, then." Megatron allowed a hint of a smile to play about his lips. But she didn't respond as he thought she would, with a smile or a laugh. He'd expected to feel confident about beginning their relationship again, but this new side of Dreamtime was making him less certain of how to restart it. _The direct approach, perhaps?_ "Kiss me, Dreamtime."

She obeyed with neither enthusiasm nor revulsion; a professional response. The kiss actually felt quite chaste.

Megatron was tempted to give rein to his impatience, but resisted the impulse.

Instead, he deepened the kiss in an attempt to get some kind of response out of her.

She didn't lick back. She didn't even move against him.

"Dreamtime, kiss me back!" Frustration roughened his voice.

This time she did. He felt his arousal begin as a plate in his crotch area slid open to reveal the transformation taking place behind it, accompanied by its own, quieter version of the familiar sound of metal against metal. He pressed his hips against her, seeking entry. Within a few astroseconds her own plate slid open, but she didn't rub herself against him as she had in the past.

"You _can't_ have forgotten how –"

"I did warn you it's been a very long time since I did this," she said.

"Same here," he retorted, "but you can't forget something like that."

Dreamtime's expression had closed. "Please don't be angry with me," she said. "It scares me when you're cross. It reminds me of that night –"

"I'm not angry with you," he said, careful to keep his voice quiet.

"Your face is cross."

"I don't mean it to be."

"And you seem different from how you used to be. Sort of – used to having your own way, so you expect it with me..."

"That sounds more like the Dreamtime I used to know," Megatron said. "You seem really different now from how you were, as well – but you always had a keen eye and a sharp mind." He kissed her temple and whispered, "Don't be scared by anything I do. I'm glad to have you beside me again."

He pressed against her again, and this time she obliged by lifting one leg up over his hip. He rolled over on his back and pulled her up onto him, pressing her against him and hauling her upper thighs apart at the same time so that he could enter her. She was so quiet, he could hear the faint clash of metal against metal as their bodies touched and scraped against the berth; sounds he hadn't heard for vorns. But it felt just the same as it had long ago, and as he moved against her he felt the contact evolve into pleasure. And as that grew, his data-exchange prong pressed deeper and deeper into Dreamtime's cleft, seeking the crescendo of more concentrated electronic pleasure he remembered...but however deep he pressed, nothing else happened. No data streams cascaded into his own system, not a single byte, and he couldn't even feel the contact with her data exchange terminal. And she didn't say anything, or even moan and arch her back in pleasure, as she had in the past.

"Dreamtime, what's wrong? What about the data exchange –"

She hid her face against his chest. "I can't do that any more."

"Why the frag not?" His voice thickened with impatience and shock. He gripped her by the arms, pushing her into a sitting position on his hips so that he could make optic contact with her. "Dreamtime, I want to know!" he barked when she didn't answer.

"It – it doesn't work now." She looked scared.

"And how long has it not worked?" His fingers squeezed her arms hard.

"Megatron, you're hurting me!" Her voice was about an octive higher than usual.

He released some of the pressure on her arms as he sat up, pushing his face closer to hers._ "How long has it not worked?" _he growled, hating having to repeat himself.

She shrank back, shaking her head. "Probably since just after the last time I saw you. But I don't know exactly how long because I was mostly offline –"

"You'd better let me have a look," he said. "Sit here on the side of the berth, and keep your legs wide apart."

She obeyed, shaking. "I w-wonder how the others d-dealt with this –"

Megatron could see and hear her fear, and on another level entirely he could feel it, but his fury wouldn't let him try to calm her. Instead, he used his ocular source to shed light on the shadowed area. Inside the opening in her crotch he could see what the trouble was.

"Your data exchange terminal is missing." Even to his own audios, his speech sounded cold, clipped and precise. "Was this part of the injury?"

"No." Her voice was a whisper.

"What happened?"

"Around the time I last saw you the brothel was taken over by Stomp. He'd been running a protection racket and our previous pimp was annoyed at more and more demands, and refused to pay up. Stomp sent his gang in, but instead of persuading him to pay up, there was a fight and they killed Whiphand. Then they radioed Stomp to tell him and he just came in and took over. We had no choice but to work for him."

"I remember Whiphand from when I took over the gladiatorial team...I didn't know he was dead. It explains a lot. And the war would have provided Stomp with a perfect opportunity to muscle in on various operations, including the brothel," Megatron guessed. _"Did he do this to you?"_

"Y-yes."

"_Fragging Pitslag!_ When?" he snarled through gritted teeth. _She was fine last time I saw her._ His frustration spilled over and he brought his fist down on the berth, denting it.

She jumped. "A couple of orns after our last meeting, and just before I was injured."

Megatron had already realised his anger about the missing data exchange unit was compounded by the fall from the emotional high of making love with her, especially after so long. "And the others?" He could hear the edge of fury in his own voice, and was aware of an ache in his crotch area. It was part of what was fuelling his anger.

"All of us."

"What else did he do to you?" _When I catch him I'll _kill_ the fraghead!_

"Locked us into root mode. Altered our personality chips and erased our pleasure programs." She reached out a hand to him. "We have no concept of any kind of pleasure now, other than what we can remember."

_So...you didn't even feel what we just did?_ _No wonder she didn't notice the music. And she has no transformation scratches._ Megatron realised he was gaping. "But...why?"

"So that we'd do what he said all the time. I think he – he wanted total control over us."

"Why didn't you run away, or stop him?" His shock had given way to anger again.

"We couldn't. He stopped us from going out of the brothel to meet clients – I think he was afraid we wouldn't come back. When he arrived, the first thing he said to us was that he could do something to protect us from picking up viruses while we were working, but while we were offline he removed our data exchange terminals. He wanted us to work all the time and restricted our energon intake, but we couldn't do anything about it because he'd interfered with various parts of our programming."

"And where does your injury fit into all this? Because I distinctly remember giving Starscream and his trine orders to keep the attacks away from the area where the brothel was."

"They couldn't possibly have known where we'd be, so you can't blame them. After a couple of orns Stomp took us to his headquarters, because he wanted to move the brothel there. But on the way we got caught in an air attack by your forces. I became separated from the others and was injured. I crawled back to the old brothel on my front. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go."

"How did you get back together with the others?" Megatron had a mental image of her crawling through a ruined Kaon to meet up with them. An unfamiliar admiration grew in him as he realised how much she'd been through, and how bravely she'd coped.

"I had a digital comm channel with Shadowkiss, but she told me they'd soon realised I'd make for the old brothel. Stomp's goons came to pick me up, but by that time I'd offlined from pain and fuel loss. You know the rest." Her voice was devoid of all expression.

_I've never heard anything as outrageous as this. _Megatron felt the ache of unsatisfied lust again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's part of the programming alterations he made to us. We can answer questions but not volunteer information on our own." Her fist clenched on the side of the berth. "It's really frustrating when you want to say something and can't because you just can't put the words together and get them out unless someone asks the right questions!"

Megatron eased her down beside him on the berth, then realised that she fitted perfectly against him, and remembered how many times he'd thought that in their past relationship. "It doesn't have to be like that forever. It might take a while to achieve, but I'll get you fixed. I still want you to be my girlfriend again."

"So you're not – upset –with me?"

"I'm not upset with _you_." _On the other hand, _he thought, _I'm going to have to break something, and I'd rather it wasn't you._

She laid a hand on his chest, then started to stroke the area, sensitising it. "I'm glad you're not, Megatron. I have to answer any questions, but I was – afraid to tell you...when you asked – because I thought you'd be cross."

"No. Not with you. But I am _furious_ with Stomp, and I intend to take revenge on him for what he's done to you - to all of you, but especially you." He watched for her reaction, but her face didn't change. He wasn't sure what he'd expected: anger, revenge, pain? But all he could see on her features was fear. Of Stomp? Or himself? He couldn't be sure. Perhaps it was fear of the consequences of trying to change the status quo.

"Now, stay here. Shut yourself down and recharge. I _will_ be back – when I've calmed down." He got up, retrieved his helm and replaced it on his head when the decorated plates had curled back into their usual position, then picked up his fusion cannon and locked it in place on his arm. "I'm going for some target practice. I need to get this out of my system."

The door closed behind him.


	6. Chapter 6: Execution

Undercover

Cleargold

Chapter 6: Execution

_A/N: [ ] denotes communication via an internal digital channel. Cybertronian time units used: groons (hours); orns (days). I should have included these before – sorry. _

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own the OCs in this story._

_Acknowledgements: As ever, many thanks to Mirage Shinkiro for betaing for me, despite a dodgy arm, and to Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud, and for a useful discussion regarding the removal of Stomp's symbol from the girls' chassis. _

_To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so. Enjoy..._

*

Megatron strolled along the corridor to the leisure complex. His processor was working overtime, although he was careful to keep his expression and body language neutral. Starscream was due to finish his teaching shift in a few Earth minutes, so he'd timed his visit to coincide with that. He entered the complex and made his unhurried way to the shooting range. This was the first part of the plan he'd formulated during the daylight groons.

Both femmes and mechs turned to look at him as he halted behind Starscream and Dreamtime. Thundercracker stood beside Shadowkiss; Skywarp was demonstrating aiming technique to Hotstuff; Astrotrain had his arm around Tendertouch as he showed her how to clean her gun. Dreamtime hadn't lied, or misunderstood the situation. Megatron suppressed a smirk and walked over to Starscream.

"Ah, Starscream. Excellent. I was looking for you. How are the shooting lessons going?" Although Megatron had asked Starscream to report on the girls' progress, he'd decided to observe them in person since he wanted to speak to Starscream.

"Not too bad – considering they've none of them used any weapons before." Starscream hesitated, then beckoned Megatron to follow him so that they stood apart from the femmes, before continuing in a lowered voice, "But Dreamtime seemed – upset this morning."

"Upset?"

"A bit agitated. Especially when we got here and found someone had destroyed most of the targets." Starscream waved a servo at the range.

"Oh?" Megatron glanced around the range. The lines they were using were the only functional ones. It amused him to play innocent about the damage, though he could see Dreamtime looking at him. He caught her optic and shook his head slightly, though he didn't think she'd say anything to Starscream or any of his "assistants". She probably couldn't.

"She seemed to think it might be connected with something she'd done. As if it were her fault –"

"She said that?"

"Yes. Of course, I told her it couldn't be anything to do with her – just someone taking a temper tantrum out on the targets. She did settle down, though. Worked well." Starscream thought for a moment and then added, "Come to think of it, Tendertouch seemed a bit off task as well."

"Really?" Megatron considered Starscream in silence for a few astroseconds. Then he said, "Perhaps they could give me an impromptu demonstration of their skills?"

"Now?" Starscream asked.

"Of course now!"

"How about it, girls?" Starscream asked, raising his voice to catch their attention and pressing the button that would replace the used targets with fresh ones. "You go first, Dreamtime."

"Go?" she asked.

Megatron wasn't the quietest speaker around, and he thought they'd probably all heard his request, but none of them seemed to have realised he was asking them to do something. But since the previous evening he had a new understanding of their difficulties.

"Megatron wants you to show him how good you're getting at shooting," Starscream explained.

Megatron had never heard him use such a patient voice.

"Oh." Dreamtime said it as if she'd suddenly understood something.

Megatron realised that was probably true as he turned to watch her.

She assumed the correct stance easily, brought her laser pistol up to fire, and took careful aim. An astrosecond after she fired, the central ring of the bullseye emitted a single flame and some smoke, only slightly off-target.

"Excellent, Dreamtime." Megatron felt a tingle of smugness. _This is _my_ girlfriend, learning how to fight. _Then he remembered the femmes' current problems, and wondered, _But how well will she perform on a battlefield?_

"Not bad at all, is she?" Starscream added, pride written all over his features as well as in his voice.

Megatron smirked at Starscream as he sent a rare digital message. [Well, of course she's good, you idiot!] "Not at all bad!" Megatron added aloud, and made optic contact with Dreamtime. When he was sure he'd got her attention, he smiled his approval at her before looking around the group of femmes. "Who's next?"

One by one, the femmes took aim and fired. All hit points on the target, though with varying degrees of accuracy.

"Well done, girls," Megatron murmured. He turned to Starscream. "Time to move them on a stage," he added. "I want them to start trying to hit the Autobot targets as soon as possible. Who knows when they might have to defend themselves?"

"In...deed," Starscream muttered. "You think they're ready to take sides?"

"They might not really have much choice. They're with us, and the Autobots may attack at some point, perhaps forcing them to defend themselves. Possibly soon." Megatron began to walk away from the range, around the corner and towards the close-up combat arena, where it was quieter and there was less of an echo as the area wasn't so enclosed. He beckoned to Starscream to follow him, much as Starscream had earlier.

After an initial hesitation, Starscream caught up with him.

"Talking of Autobots, remind me of the names of those femmes Optimus Prime's brought to Earth." Megatron cast a sideways look at Starscream, watching him as he would have watched an adversary.

Starscream looked uncomfortable. "Elita One, Chromia, Firestar and Moonracer."

"Just the four of them?"

"Yes." Starscream peered back at him, his expression becoming wary. "Why?"

"Oh – nothing. I was just thinking we were equal with the Autobots – they have four femmes, we have four." Megatron regarded him closely. "Thundercracker said you told him one of them was assigned to look after you."

"Yes. I think there was an element of watching as well."

"Which one?"

"Uh – Chromia." Starscream's fist twitched, almost a failed clench.

The reflex happened so quickly that Megatron doubted whether he'd really seen the movement after all. "Chromia. The most experienced of them, other than Elita One," he said. "Well, either you were honoured or Optimus had your mission pegged from the start."

"What d'you mean?" Starscream's voice moved up an octive in indignation. "She never acted like she was suspicious of me. And I didn't know what you were up to when you left me there."

"You still haven't forgiven me for that, have you?"

"I'd just – have liked to have been told what was going on, Megatron –"

"If I'd told you, you wouldn't have been such an effective spy."

"I suppose not." Starscream's expression shouted his resentment, and Megatron knew he'd made the right choice in not sharing his plan with him. He gazed at Starscream until the Seeker had to look away.

Megatron took that as the signal to start speaking again. "Starscream, I discovered something yesterday evening, during my meeting with Dreamtime, which leads me to think that your trine may have been unintentionally responsible for her injury."

"Wh-what?" Starscream turned his head and his optics locked gaze with Megatron.

"Apparently she was injured in one of your raids."

Starscream digested this in silence for a moment, then said, "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Megatron watched Starscream's expression change to one of alarm, if not outright fear. "She knew it was my forces, and it was an air attack, right at the start of the war. That's before other Seekers were involved in our faction. It could only have been you three." They were in the centre of the close-combat arena now, just where he wanted Starscream. He stepped behind him and grabbed one wrist, yanking it behind Starscream's waist, and gradually forcing it up between his wings. At the same time he clamped his other arm around Starscream's neck, immobilising him and pulling him almost off his stabilising servos. _Close combat was never Starscream's forte, though he's improved over the vorns, _he reflected. "I distinctly remember giving you instructions to keep away from the brothel on your raids," Megatron growled into Starscream's left audio. "Why did you disobey me?"

"We – we didn't," Starscream gagged. "We kept away from there."

Megatron knew perfectly well that, for once, Starscream wasn't lying, but it amused him to discomfit him, and he wanted to make sure Starscream would continue to behave himself. "Are you sure? Because Dreamtime says it was in one of _your_ raids that she was injured. How do you account for that?"

Starscream tried to shrug, but could only move slightly. "I don't know. I'll have to talk to her and find out –"

"And when you do, you'll apologise to her." Megatron knew he had the edge when it came to close combat. He yanked at Starscream's arms once more, hard enough to hurt him, before releasing him with a little shove. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood because Dreamtime's with me again. Let's go back to the others."

Starscream staggered slightly as he let him go, and Megatron was amused to see him fingering the cables in his neck, and once, rubbing his shoulder, as they retraced their steps. His mood had changed since returning to his quarters in the early groons; his catastrophic release of energy in the shooting range had emptied out his rage and replaced it with black humour, and in addition he felt as if someone else was moving about in his body, and he were watching it from the outside. It was a strange feeling, but it was allowing him to function reasonably well without having to damage anything else at present. It had also left him feeling very alert, despite not having spent enough time recharging.

They'd reached the lines again, and Megatron was gratified to find the femmes clustering about him. Starscream and the others stood a little apart.

"Girls," Megatron said, indicating each of the femmes in turn, "Have you thought about getting Stomp's symbol removed?"

They looked at each other, the expressions of puzzlement on their faces gradually replaced by hope.

"I – don't want to be _his_ possession – any more –" Hotstuff shuddered.

"Nor do I," Tendertouch said, "though I'm not ready to be _anything_ right now. Except to belong to me."

"The trine freed us," Shadowkiss added. "It would be better if the symbol weren't there."

"Dreamtime?" Megatron asked.

"I didn't know – we never thought – that we could have them taken off –" she faltered.

"I give you permission to have them removed – as if you really needed it!" Megatron turned to Starscream. "Arrange it with Hook for them."

Starscream nodded, rubbing his neck again. "I'll get that done later today." He turned to the femmes, and croaked, "Good shooting, girls."

Megatron nodded at them. "Do I get the feeling you'd like to use your guns on Stomp?"

"Maybe..." Dreamtime seemed uncertain. The other three were silent.

_Their rebellion's in the early stages,_ Megatron thought, _but it's growing. _"Good – you might even get the chance!" He turned back toward the control room and marched along the corridor.

"You're such a tease, Megatron!" he heard Starscream mutter behind him.

Arriving at the control room, he saw with satisfaction that Soundwave was there. "Soundwave, I want you to build some data capture equipment for me. It'll need to be able to download the data directly from the environment."

"What kind of equipment do you require?"

Megatron explained what he wanted. "And I'll need sensors installed in one of the holding cells."

"No problem."

"Good. I also want to raid the power station at Clerith Point. Preferably as soon as possible after the equipment is ready."

"For energon?"

Megatron inclined his head. "And I don't want any mistakes. There shouldn't be any Autobots left standing after the raid."

"Shall I contact the Insecticons?"

"No. We don't need them for what I have in mind. But you could despatch Laserbeak to find out what the station's security routines are. Tell him to make sure he's seen by security there before he returns here."

Soundwave cast him a quick sidewise glance, then opened his chest compartment. "Laserbeak. Prepare for flight."

*

Starscream banked sharply to his left, avoiding a volley of fire from Powerglide, then set himself spiralling downwards as if hit. More than halfway groundwards he pulled out of the spin and banked again, bringing his null-ray cannon to bear on the figure below. Prowl was just taking aim, about to fire on Rumble. Starscream snaked by, firing continuously, and had the satisfaction of seeing Prowl fall before he could so much as fire a single shot. "Next time, pick on someone your own size!" he yelled as he flashed away into the sky.

Megatron's order to attack the power station below had surprised him somewhat. Of course, they hadn't raided anywhere for energon for a while, and that was obviously the reason they were here at Clerith Point, but Starscream wasn't aware of any recent demands for power from Shockwave. Of course, he wasn't always privy to Megatron's communications –

Suddenly he spotted Chromia's blue form, her build slighter than the Autobot mechs but still tall and proud, creeping forwards on her front. Ironhide was beside her; his red bodywork contrasted sharply with the grass on the clifftop. The sight of her threw him somewhat; he hadn't expected to encounter her in a firefight, and a moment's near panic had him wondering whether Megatron would seriously expect him to attack her. Then his logic circuits kicked in again. _He doesn't know about Chromia. Even though he quizzed me the other orn. _He flew in a great curve through the sky, carving the air into a defence of his own. _I'll just fight over here instead, _he told himself. _As long as Megatron doesn't notice._

He zoomed past Trailbreaker, strafing his position as he went; a yelp told him his aim had been true. He banked again and pounced on victim after victim. As Starscream descended towards him Brawn looked up. He took aim and was about to fire when Starscream fired directly on his gun. The resulting explosion took his hand right off along with part of his forearm. Parts became shrapnel. Starscream sniggered as he saw Brawn's look of shock and horror, then flung himself skywards again and sought a new target.

_There! _Starscream made out Tracks' proud blue-and-white form, hugging a rock outcrop above the power station, covering Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, Bluestreak and Blaster as they approached the building. Mirage appeared once beside the group. Then he disappeared and Starscream couldn't predict his position. But he fired a cluster bomb at the Autobots as he circled over the group. It fell rapidly for a few astroseconds. Then it burst apart with a percussion and a hiss of expanding gases. The resulting miniature bombs were no less effective for their smaller size. Each one exploded on contact. A slew of smoke, flames and gas ruptured toughened armour plating, obscured vision and twisted joints. Each caused a miniature shock wave which threw the groundhuggers into each other or to the land surface. A fire started in a dried–up bush. Bumblebee was the only one in the group of Autobots left standing as the conflagration swayed and danced on the ground below. Even he was clutching his side. Starscream chuckled mirthlessly as he climbed back into the sky.

He was a demon warrior who'd found his true element. But he still swept an optic over Chromia and Ironhide whenever his orientation permitted. They'd topped the bluff and were creeping down the cliff-face towards the power station. Starscream didn't care about Ironhide; he'd crossed swords with him many a time in the past, and no doubt would again, though he knew it would simply be better to avoid him at present. But he wouldn't harm Chromia, at least for now. And he wouldn't give Megatron any excuse to take his ire out on him. Besides, he was committed to the Decepticon cause. He always had been.

He whirled and dived again. Fired. Hoist clapped a hand to his shoulder. Bank. Spin. Dive. Fire. Fire –

Below, he spotted Megatron firing his fusion cannon at the clifftop above Chromia and Ironhide.

"_NO!"_ he shouted, flipping in mid-air and swooping again.

As the lip of the cliff crumbled and folded in slow motion around Chromia, he flashed between her and the rock, transforming. The impacts on his back and wings shoved him face-down on top of her, and as his body contacted with hers he was struck by more rocks, and knew no more.

*

Ironhide heaved the last few rocks off him and scrambled to his feet. Chromia was nowhere to be seen, but he knew she was buried under Starscream and half the clifftop. He scrabbled at the boulders, rolling several down the hillside towards a group of Decepticons including Frenzy and Soundwave. They had to leap aside to avoid them. Ironhide couldn't help chuckling when he saw that, but the fury grew in him as his efforts revealed Starscream's crumpled wingtip. "That should have been me!" he grunted to himself as he heaved at another boulder. _I don't know why Starscream got in the way like that, but she's _my_ girl and that pesky number two varmint seemed to be very attracted to her when he was our prisoner after the last firefight._

"Need help, Ironhide?"

He whirled. It was Optimus. A nod had him shoving boulders aside as frantically as Ironhide, but all they could uncover was Starscream's inert form.

"He's out for the count. We'll have to move him –"

Flashes of fusion cannon fire interrupted Optimus, and they both dived for cover.

"Optimus Prime! Leave Starscream – he's _mine!_" Megatron yelled.

"Yes, and Chromia's my girl!" Ironhide retorted. He made to get up, but Optimus yanked him back.

"Sounds like Starscream's in trouble," Optimus said. "I wonder why he –"

"He seemed to have a bit of a thing going for Chromia," Ironhide explained, though he was loath to give voice to his anxiety. "HardIy took his optics off her the whole time he was with us."

Optimus nodded slowly. "That – makes sense," he said, as if reviewing past events.

"I was relieved when he left. Of course, she's too smart to get involved with _him!_"

"Huh – help!"

"That's Chromia," Ironhide hissed. "She's trapped under Starscream, and if Megatron takes her prisoner who knows what he'll do to her? We've got to help her!" He broke off and turned towards where Chromia's voice had come from. "Hold on, darlin'. We'll try to get you out of there."

"Hold your fire, Megatron," Optimus shouted. "We just want Chromia."

More laser fire preceded Megatron uphill. "No chance! You shouldn't have allowed a femme to come to Earth."

"We're going to have to fight Megatron for her," Ironhide warned Optimus. "I'm _not_ going to let him have her." He raised his laser rifle and took aim. The percussion rocked Megatron on his feet, but he still kept approaching.

"So...she means a lot to you, does she, Ironhide?"

Ironhide hated the taunting tone of that voice. Megatron would see his feelings for Chromia as weakness, and worse still, as a way to hurt him. He fired again.

This time Megatron dodged the shots. He was getting closer and closer. He raised the cannon and fired straight at Ironhide.

Optimus grabbed him and pulled him down. "You can't win. I'll try to negotiate –"

Megatron's laughter ricocheted around the hillside even as the cannon tore up the ground into a huge, smoking crater. He still sounded amused as he said, "Negotiate? With what?" And he raised the cannon again and fired at them.

The blast caught Ironhide off-balance as he sank back down beside Optimus. He staggered, lost his footing, and rolled downhill. His last emotion as he plunged headlong was sorrow that he wouldn't be able to save Chromia. Then an impact with a boulder put him offline.

*

As Optimus saw Ironhide, his longtime friend and many-times-saviour, rolling downhill, he knew there was nothing he could do to help him at that moment.

Megatron fired again, quickly; not directly at Optimus, but at the rocks in front of him so that they shattered.

His battle mask protected most of Optimus's face, but a shard smacked against his optic, pixilating his vision momentarily. He put up a hand to wipe at the place, and in that instant's vulnerability heard the _clomp_ of footsteps on the tussocks of turf coming closer.

"You're surrounded, Optimus Prime. Negotiate your way out of that one."

A groan emerged from under the rockpile.

Megatron turned his head, distracted. "And as for _you_, you fraghead, just wait till you're out of there!" Metal clanged as he threw a rock.

"Ouch!" Starscream mumbled.

Optimus saw the convulsive movement he made with his shattered wing, apparently trying to shield Chromia. _He must really like her,_ he thought. _But Starscream is vulnerable to Megatron's violence and probably won't be able to protect her if she _is_ taken prisoner, even if he was physically fit enough. I _must_ get her out._

"Starscream!" he whispered. "Can you hear me?"

"Uhhh..."

"Starscream!" Optimus leaned forwards and shook his arm harder. "Wake up!"

"Optim..."

"Come _ON!" _Optimus shook Starscream's arm again. "You must wake up, Starscream. Chromia's trapped beneath you, and –"

_**Booom!**_

The blast was too loud. Optimus looked up and saw Megatron grinning broadly at him. Then he caught sight of his leg. Oddly, the pain didn't start until he realised his leg was partially shredded above the knee, between the two sections of armour plating. And it was then that he lost his balance and fell.

Even then, he still tried to arouse Starscream, crawling over and grabbing his arm again.

"What does it take to stop you, Optimus?" Megatron's voice grated with impatience.

Optimus felt an intense pressure, almost at the level of pain, on his servo as it shook Starscream's arm. He looked up and saw Megatron standing beside him on one leg, poised to grind his other stabilising servo into his hand.

Megatron lifted his arm-mounted cannon and aimed it at him. "Understand this, Optimus. Starscream has tried to thwart me again, and I _will_ have vengeance on him. Leave him!"

"I don't...want Starscream – but I need him to move...so I can get Chromia out from –"

"Well, _you_ can't have her!" Megatron snarled. "Because _I_ need her more than you do." And he squeezed the trigger.


	7. Chapter 7: Prisoners

Undercover

Cleargold

_A/N: Apologies for the delay in posting this. There were a few issues to resolve._

_Warning: lemon alert, so if you don't like, don't read! Actually it's a bit of a twist of lime...but definitely citrus-flavoured..._

_To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so._

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own the OCs in this story._

_Acknowledgements: As ever, many thanks to Mirage Shinkiro for betaing for me, to guest beta mdnytryder for useful (and fun!) suggestions, and to Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud. _

Chapter 7: Prisoners

"We _have_ to rescue Chromia!" Optimus Prime would have paced around the room, had he been able to, but he was lying on Ratchet's operating table in the control room of the Ark. "Who knows what Megatron will have done to her by now!"

"Damn right!" said Ratchet. "And as for Ironhide, we don't even know where he is."

"It's a fair bet he's been taken prisoner by the 'Cons too," Prowl said, "since you said you last saw him rolling downhill towards them, after Megatron fired at you two."

"Yes." Optimus nodded. "And there was no sign of him on the hillside when you searched, was there?" He remembered the fusion cannon firing, but nothing after that, until the search party had found him. Ratchet had given him field surgery to get his shattered leg functional enough to bring him back to the Ark, then brought him round just before they left.

Ratchet was just refining that work now. "Keep still!" he told him. "I can't operate if you keep jiggling about like that."

Optimus relaxed a little and lay back for Ratchet to complete his work. But his processor was grappling with the problem of Ironhide's disappearance. Prowl's suggestion was probably correct; find Chromia and Ironhide was likely to be there as well.

But what condition they were in was anybody's guess. Optimus had tried to use his own digital channel to contact Ironhide, but had been unable to raise him. He was either out of range or still offline. And if he was offline he wouldn't be able to do a thing to help Chromia.

For the first time, Optimus wondered if Megatron had been right in criticising his decision to bring the femmes to Earth.

*

Starscream came to with a jolt as someone shook his shoulder. It set off a chain reaction of pain in every part of his body.

His vision coalesced out of the blur of returning consciousness. The memories came in a flood: his attempt to save Chromia from injury by the collapsing cliff; the efforts of Optimus Prime and Ironhide to retrieve her from underneath him before Megatron could take her prisoner (though he'd only come to and become aware of that when Megatron's fusion cannon shots had aroused him); the roughness of the other Decepticons as they dragged him and Chromia out from the rockslide; and the pounding he'd got from Megatron when they reached their base. He remembered Megatron saying, "And that's for trying to save the Autobot femme!" as he stood over him, about to deliver the next blow.

"Wait, Megatron!" Starscream had felt he should protest his innocence, though it was a huge effort to push himself up into a sitting position to do so. He held up a servo, fingers extended. "If I hadn't been lying on top of her, Prime and Ironhide might have been able to rescue Chromia – and then you wouldn't have got her. They were determined to get her out!"

Megatron had lowered the fist he'd drawn back and for a moment looked thoughtful. Then he sneered, "The only thing that's more annoying than your betrayals is when you're right," before turning away and adding to the others, "Put them in holding cell four."

Starscream's awareness had flickered out for an astrosecond then, as his pain tolerance was breached. His collapse back onto the floor roused him again for a moment, but that was all he knew before his heads-up display folded in on itself.

The shaking at his shoulder came again, avalanching agony down into his right wing where it joined his back. "Chromia!" He tried to heave himself upright, but he could barely move as the pain wracked him.

"I'm here, Starscream," she said, and her face swam into view above him.

"Are you – okay?"

"A bit sore in places – my shoulder and my knee are the worst. You and a few tons of rocks are heavy!"

"At least your sense of humour's intact. More than you can say for me." He subsided back onto the floor. _Thank Primus she's all right!_ He looked around him. They were in one of the holding cells, but, unusually, one corner of it contained a recharge berth. _What the slag's that doing in here?_ "Megatron didn't harm you?"

"No. I told you, I'm fine."

That puzzled him. He'd been sure she was in danger while he couldn't protect her.

"Let's see if I can help you, Starscream, seeing as you were injured trying to save me in the first place." She leaned over him.

"**Chromia! Make no attempt to repair Starscream!"** Megatron's voice thundered over the intercom. The echoes ricocheted around the confined space.

Chromia looked shocked.

"He's watching us," Starscream murmured. "He wants me to suffer for helping the enemy."

"And – are you? Suffering, I mean."

"I can hardly move, I'm so sore." He managed to ease himself up and back against the compartment wall, in much the position that he'd spent so much time in whilst a prisoner of the Autobots, knees bent up over the buttressing in the cell floor. The position stressed his left leg, where the cydraulic cable had all but snapped, but there wasn't much he could do about that. "I wonder why Megatron's put us in here together?"

"**You're about to find out!" **

The comment – and volume – left Starscream and Chromia looking at one another in some apprehension.

Shortly afterwards, the door clanged as it travelled upwards to admit Megatron. He stalked into the cell and waited for the door to roll down again before speaking.

"Chromia, I believe you've been involved in a project to build some more Autobot femmes?"

"I'm not at liberty to say." But she stared accusingly at Starscream.

He couldn't meet her gaze.

"I know it's true, so don't bother denying it." Megatron moved round so that he could look directly into Chromia's optics. "You see, you have something I require."

"Something _you_ require?" Chromia repeated, as if she couldn't quite believe or comprehend him.

"Yes. Starscream here brought four femmes from Cybertron to Earth for – recreational purposes – but they're experiencing some problems which you can help resolve."

"In what way?"

"They don't seem to have the wherewithal to provide us with the...recreation we need."

Chromia looked even more surprised, before riposting, "Are you sure it isn't the company?"

Megatron's features corrugated in fury. He raised his hand to hit her, but forced himself to lower it.

_He's realised that hitting her won't help with whatever he wants, _Starscream thought cynically.

Megatron recovered his composure quickly and laughed. "Quite the wit, aren't you? No, they've suffered deliberate damage, and I need your help to get them functioning again."

"Why me?"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, you're the only other femme in our base." Megatron leaned over Chromia so that his face hung above hers. "It requires a small data contribution, one that can be achieved by letting Starscream here have his wicked way with you."

Starscream sat bolt upright, fists clenched. It was the last thing he'd expected to hear, although perhaps he should have expected it in view of his recent behaviour.

"Why Starscream?" Chromia demanded, frowning more deeply than the first time he'd seen her at Autobot HQ.

"Because he's the one mech here who'll make an effort to make you enjoy it," Megatron retorted.

_He does know how I feel about her!_ Starscream clamped his teeth on his lower lip. _That also means he can hurt me through her._

"You can't make me cheat on Ironhidewith Starscream," Chromia said.

"Oh, yes, I can." Megatron smiled a chilling smile. "Because if you don't, I'll weld you to the floor and let every Decepticon in the base take a turn with you until you do go with him."

"But – that's rape!" Chromia exclaimed.

"I guess it is. Well, whatever it takes..."

"Megatron, you can't just _order_ me to interface with Chromia!" Starscream screeched. He'd never been unwilling before. _It's not that I'm unwilling now, I'd just prefer not to be ordered to do this, and I'd like some privacy._ He felt he had to make some kind of protest about it. "Your authority doesn't extend to my sex life!"

"It does now. Just do it – or you'll learn the true meaning of suffering." He spread his hands in an expansive gesture. "Lie back and think of the Decepticon cause! And by the way, Starscream, in case you thought you could double-cross me over this – I'll be watching!" With that Megatron left and the door rolled down and clanged back into place behind him.

"I _knew_ – from spending time with you at Autobot HQ – that there was something different about those girls!" Starscream mused. "I wonder what happened to them, though?"

"And why is it so important to him that I _enjoy_ it?" Chromia was still frowning.

Starscream shrugged. "I don't know, but – what a choice! I suppose Megatron sees it as necessary in order to get Dreamtime and the others fixed." Thinking hard, he turned slightly so that he could look directly into her optics. "But don't think for even one astrosecond that _I'm_ happy about it, either. I have feelings too, you know!"

"How dare he?"

"He dares do all sorts of things all the time, especially to me," Starscream said.

"Yes, I've noticed he's pretty horrible to you." Chromia got up and tried to pace around the room, but she was limping – evidently her knee injury was making it hard for her to put weight on her right leg. She came and sat down again beside him. "D'you think he meant that threat?"

Starscream shook his head and a sigh gusted through his intakes. "I don't know, but I wouldn't like to find out if I were in your position." His processor was in overdrive as he mentally reviewed the X-rated movie he'd seen, and the conversation with the fleshling Sparkplug whilst at Autobot HQ, turning them over and over in his mind. _Could that work?_

He hauled himself upright using the edge of the berth and looked around the cell. The camera was in the opposite corner from the bunk, which was bolted in place. Megatron must at least be serious about watching. He touched Chromia's shoulder to get her attention, and pointed to the lens. She got up to look. "The room's bugged, remember? He said he'd be watching, so perhaps we'd better get on with it. Though I'm thinking very seriously about a campaign of disobedience after this!"

"And _I_ don't really see why I should be forced to have sex with an enemy!" Chromia stamped her foot.

Starscream hobbled closer, switching to digital communication and seeking a suitable channel. [Now don't take this the wrong way, but can you just put your arms round me?] He slid his arm behind her and turned her face towards him.

"Starscream!" Chromia ignored his digital appeal, instead putting her hands up on his chest to push him away. "Ironhide will _kill_ all of you 'Cons for this!"

"Shhh," he whispered. "I know you belong with Ironhide, but you haven't really got much choice, have you?" He pulled her close again and brushed her audio with his lips. [Megatron has no right to order me to do this. I've _never_ had to force a femme, and I'm not going to start now. But I've had an idea. Listen to me.] For once it seemed really important to show her that at least a small part of him could be trusted. He rubbed his face against hers. [We could make it _look_ like the real thing without actually...interfacing.]

[What? Are you sure that would work?]

He kissed her cheek, hoping he was right and his idea would work, because he'd never heard of anything like that being done before – though if the fleshies made X-rated movies by simulating sex it was likely that the equivalent Cybertronian industry, before the war, had done the same. [I'm willing to try it if you are.] _It's probably the nearest I'll ever get to having sex with her. _"Don't be afraid." He thought he'd better say something out loud in case Megatron really was watching and listening. "I won't hurt you."

[Well... as long as you don't expect me to betray –]

[No!] Starscream interrupted, not wanting to hear Ironhide's name again. [But you should put up a bit more resistance – Megatron will be suspicious if he thinks you've suddenly given in. I think you should be all right as long as you keep the plate shut.] He pressed a trail of kisses against her cheek. [Other than that, I won't fake anything. But make it _look_ like the real thing. I think that'll work.]

"Get _off_ me!" She tried to push him away again.

By instinct Starscream held her closer to ease the ache in his spark. "If you could just accept this, Chromia, it will be better for you. I don't want to hurt you..." He laid a hand gently on her hip, then slid his fingers over the smooth metal to caress her aft –

"Stop it!" She raised a hand as if to slap him, but he caught it and brought it around him, laid it against the seams where his wings joined his body, and pressed it against him, wishing she would really massage the joints there. "Mmm, Chromia...yes! Come _on_." Realistically he knew she'd never get involved with him, either physically or emotionally, and he was beginning to regret his generous impulse. He needed to bring this part of the charade to a close, and quickly. He thought back over times when he'd convinced prisoners to interface with him in the past. What had he said to persuade them? "I bet you've never made love in mid-air, have you?" A small sigh wafted through his intakes, just deep enough for the air disturbance to caress her paintwork. He stroked her side, feeling the swell of her hips and chassis under his fingers.

"Can you really do that?" Her optics were wider and brighter than he'd ever seen them before.

He traced the outline of her lips with a finger, then kissed the side of her mouth. "Might be difficult at the moment – I'm not sure if I can even fly right now," he murmured. "But yes, I can." He gave a little grin. "It's something only a Seeker can do."

"How do you keep in control?" She was calmer, her expression more relaxed now that her anger had subsided.

"It's not easy...you need lots of practice!" His mouth hovered above hers. [You'll have to kiss me as if you mean it.] And he let his mouth touch hers, quite naturally, just as if he'd intended to kiss her all along. [And you'll have to let me touch you a bit to make this work.]

[I'm not sure if I want you to touch me _too_ much!] Chromia retorted, and it wouldn't have taken a telepath to pick up the half-teasing tone.

He didn't reply. It was hard to send digital messages when his lips were on hers. _At least she's using the channel now, and seems comfortable with it._ He deepened the kiss, pulling her as close as he could, although it hurt his aching limbs and every touch of her against him felt like a short-circuit. Yet the pain receded against the excitement growing in him as he explored her body, fingers tingling with the contact as they wove a web of desire like a veil over her metallic skin, touching her nipped-in waist, her sculpted chassis, the curve of her aft, even the boundaries of the secret place between her thighs...but never the plate that covered the most intimate part of a femme, though this time she didn't protest at his touch. And he took her hands back to the weld seams at the centre of his back. "Touch me there," he whispered. "It's really sensitive."

"Is that what you like?"

"It's one thing. Massage me – I get really tense there."

"Are you tense there now?"

"Enough to need a massage."

Without a word, she obliged.

"Mmmhh!" he moaned, letting her release some of the tension there before clambering onto the berth and lying down. "Come up here, Chromia." He grasped her hand, beckoning with the other, and she climbed up on top of him. "I just _love_ dominant women... and it's a bit difficult not to let them dominate me 'cos I can't lie on my side easily!"

"I suppose not," she murmured, straddling him. [Well...let's make it look good then!] And she ran her hands lightly over his chest plate and cockpit glass.

Starscream groaned and half-sat up, pulling her closer so that he could kiss her. _I want you so much,_ he thought, _but I can't tell you out loud and even that's torture!_ He pressed her hard against him. "Hhhh. It's been so many vorns since I did this!"

"But surely you could have had any femme you wanted?"

"On Cybertron, perhaps, but not here!" Starscream slid his hands around her hips and cupped her aft with them, pulling her thighs apart and pressing her as close to him as he could. _I wonder if Megatron's _really_ watching this,_ he thought.

*

Megatron stared at the CCTV screen which showed him Chromia astride Starscream, then exchanged a glance with Soundwave. "Any time now," he murmured, with some satisfaction.

Soundwave nodded his agreement before turning his attention to the monitoring equipment he'd rigged up with Megatron and increasing the volume slightly.

_It's just as well Starscream _has_ got a crush on Chromia,_ Megatron thought, _although it's idiotic to be infatuated with an enemy femme. And even more idiotic to refuse to have sex with her when he got the chance! _

He looked sideways at Soundwave again. "That was quick thinking on your part, Soundwave, sending Laserbeak, Ravage and Ratbat after Ironhide to take him prisoner while I dealt with Optimus." Megatron allowed his mouth to curl at the corners as Soundwave nodded his acknowledgement of the praise. "Let's hope they're successful soon."

Then he turned back to the CCTV screen, where Starscream was licking the side of Chromia's neck. _If they hadn't co-operated I could have had Ironhide tortured in front of Chromia, once we have him, or even persuaded _him_ to oblige with Chromia if Starscream wouldn't play ball. But I still have that ace in hand for when Laserbeak and co. bring him in...or I might exchange him for something I want...but they seem to have taken my threat seriously. _

He left his chair and paced around the control room once or twice, mentally re-examining his attempt, a few solar cycles previously, to restart the relationship he'd shared with Dreamtime. But there was nothing else he could do to restore her lost libido. Since that night, although they'd shared his berth, which had been repaired the very next day, he hadn't tried to do anything other than lie next to her, recharging. He didn't want to expose either of them to that feeling of failure again. He wanted it to be the way it had been between them before the war, although a part of him knew that wasn't really possible; too much time had passed, too much had changed. He shook his head as if in denial of that, knowing that even if Dreamtime hadn't changed, he had. He came back and sat down again._ Maybe I'll get to put my back-up plan into action too – at some point – since this is being recorded. And if not now, then I have it for posterity – and future use if necessary..._

He looked at the CCTV screen again. Starscream and Chromia were pressing themselves against each other; it looked promising.

*

"Kiss me again, Chromia!"

Lips the colour of midnight on Cybertron pressed against Starscream's mouth, gently at first and then harder, as if Chromia was becoming aroused too. Then she parted his lips and her glossa slid into his mouth and touched his. That excited him even more.

Evidently it excited her as well, because the unmistakeable sound of her plate opening reached him.

[Ah, so you _do_ like me a bit!] Starscream sent, and his triumph distracted him. He began to move against her, and, somewhat to his surprise, his pleasure programme initiated. A sensation of tingling became one of throbbing, one he remembered well. It was unmistakeable, and it grew and grew as the pleasure programme ran.

[I thought it was _you_ that liked _me_, when we were back at Autobot HQ.]

[Don't be ridiculous,] he sent, thrusting harder against her. [You're an Autobot and I'm a Decepticon.]

[I presume that doesn't stop you from being attracted to femmes, even if you keep it to yourself here. Sorry, I lost concentration for an astrosec,] she sent, as she closed the plate again. [It's not that easy to keep it shut with you doing that!] Chromia stared down at him, smiling ruefully, then leaned down and kissed him full on the mouth. "Aaaaah!" she sighed against his lips. [Don't get too excited – you told me to make it look real.]

[I know.] _I just wish it _was_ for real._ The electronic tingling and throbbing were still building, building, headed towards a peak –

[Anyway, just because you're with one mech you don't stop being attracted to others, you know. You just don't always have to do anything about it.] She made a throwaway gesture with her hands. [I knew you liked me back at Autobot HQ, but I thought it was either just a passing fancy or you were completely sex-starved. I had no idea you _really_ liked me! Is that what Megatron meant about you being the only mech in the base that would make an effort to make me enjoy it? After all, you tried to save me from being hurt!]

Starscream shrugged, the movement jerking his torn wing against the surface of the berth, and making him screw up his face in a grimace for an astrosecond. "Ouch!" It was then that the sensitive tip of his data-exchange prong scraped against her plate. He'd known there was a risk that it would, but even so the piercing pain surprised him.

"Are you all right?"

Her comment distracted him from the pain enough to make it bearable. "I'm fine," he lied. "Just caught my wing." That much was true, at least. He felt embarrassed that she knew he was attracted to her, and was relieved that their exchange couldn't be overheard or recorded on CCTV. _Chromia seems pleased and flattered,_ he thought. But he wondered how long that would last; probably only until she got back to Autobot HQ and encountered Ironhide's jealousy again.

And when it had finished, when the throbbing and pulsing sensations of the pleasure programme began to subside, Starscream still wanted to complete the sex cycle. His whole body aching with the need to exchange data with her, he kissed Chromia again, a searching kiss that reflected his unfulfilment.

She kissed him back.

But it would never work between them. _We're on different sides. She can never be mine, because neither of us are prepared to give up our ideals. Even without Ironhide._ The elation he'd felt moments before turned to depression.

[Chromia! Just – hold me –] He pulled her down beside him and held her close.

_I've damaged myself even more,_ he thought. _But at least I've successfully thwarted Megatron, and whatever he does to me after this, he can't take away from me the feeling that I've had sex with Chromia – or the knowledge that I haven't!_

*

It hadn't been obvious that anything had gone wrong.

Megatron went over the events of the past few Earth minutes again. He'd felt uncomfortable watching other Transformers having sex, but for what he needed, it was necessary. Soundwave appeared to be unencumbered by such scruples; he kept an optic on the CCTV screen the whole time. "Programme downloading," he'd said. The monitor had filled up with symbols as the processor decoded the data.

"Yesss!" Megatron had grinned in anticipation.

But Soundwave's attention had turned to the monitoring equipment's screen. "Programme inappropriate," he intoned.

"_**What?" **_

Megatron couldn't believe it. After all the work they'd done on this project – after all his careful planning and execution, Dreamtime wasn't going to get the new pleasure programme she needed, and nor would the other girls.

"Programme is a masculine version, probably Starscream's. No trace of feminine algorithms."

"He cheated!" _How did he do that?_ "Wait here, Soundwave." Megatron burst out of the control room and tore along the corridor.


	8. Chapter 8: Accession

Undercover

Cleargold

_A/N: I had intended to post this before my holiday, but again there were a few issues to resolve once I'd read it through aloud. So I decided to wait till I got back. Apologies if you've been waiting impatiently for it – I know there have been a few people looking each day. I'd just rather not post it until I'm happy that it does what I want it to do. _

_To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so._

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own the OCs in this story._

_Acknowledgements: As ever, many thanks to Mirage Shinkiro for betaing for me and to Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud. _

Chapter 8: Accession

By the time he got to the holding chamber Megatron had his fury under control. Just. He opened the door very deliberately, and entered with equal purpose. Starscream lay on the floor, one arm around Chromia.

"_Starscream, you traitor!_ " he hissed. "How can you be so blatantly disloyal? I _needed_ Chromia's pleasure programme for Dreamtime – uh – and the other girls."

Starscream climbed painfully to his feet, pushing Chromia behind him. "You didn't tell me that."

"It's nothing you needed to know." Megatron made his tone haughty. "A traitor like you can't be trusted with anything. You'll pay for this, Starscream!"

"Don't hurt him again, Megatron! He was trying to protect _me_." Chromia stepped in front of Starscream, holding her arms out and down at either side, as if to protect him. "Megatron, who's Dreamtime? And why do you need my pleasure programme?"

"Dreamtime's his girlfriend," Starscream interjected. "I noticed the girls I brought back here from a brothel on Cybertron seemed scared of their pimp, mainly because I'd had recent contact with you and expected them to be – well, more in charge of their own actions. But when we got back here I thought they still seemed too...compliant. But I don't know why."

Reluctantly, Megatron realised he might get what he wanted faster if he explained what had happened to the girls. "Their pleasure programmes have been erased, their data exchange terminals removed, and their personality chips altered. And they've been locked in root mode," he said. "I found out when I tried to re-establish the relationship I had with Dreamtime before the war. I imagine Thundercracker, Skywarp and Astrotrain have encountered similar problems."

"Right, so you need my pleasure programme and the blueprint for my data exchange terminal," Chromia said. "Why didn't you just _ask_ me? Of course you can download them."

Megatron stared down at her. "You mean – you'd help us _willingly_?" Chromia's offer had completely wrong-footed him. But he recovered himself an astrosecond later, and smirked, "Doesn't that make you a traitor to the Autobots?"

"Look, do you want this – ah – data contribution?" Chromia folded her arms, lifted her chin and stared back at him. "I have no problem with innocent femmes who've been mistreated. But _he_ --" Chromia indicated Starscream with a jerk of her thumb, "– tried to protect me, so I want your guarantee that you won't beat him up again or hurt him in any way over this episode."

"And _I_ want your guarantee that Chromia's injuries will be fixed as part of the deal," Starscream added. "Otherwise, no dice!"

"What, _you've_ got a crush on _him_ now?" Megatron enquired of Chromia, surveying her with malice. He totally ignored Starscream's demand.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Chromia snorted. "I'm still an Autobot and he's still a Decepticon."

"Indeed." Megatron watched Chromia, thinking hard. The Autobot femme's optics rested often on Starscream's features, and in turn his optics were as if magnetised by her face. He decided they must be communicating on a private digital channel. What would they be discussing? _I know what I'd be talking about, _Megatron thought._ I'd be thinking about what I could ask for in return. I bet that's what Starscream's putting her up to._

Sure enough, when she looked away from Starscream's optics, Chromia said, "Megatron, I'm not so bothered about the repairs. I'd rather just go back to the Ark after Soundwave downloads the programme and plan."

"What, you're afraid Hook might be a bit rough on your delicate hide?" Megatron sneered. "Well, Autobot, it only happens if you also provide the code for rebuilding their personality chips." He felt the hope rise in him.

"I'm not sure that it would be relevant to use code from mine," Chromia said slowly. "You could end up with personalities that are nothing like the originals, and that could be distressing to the girls themselves, never mind you and the others. To rebuild their personality chips is a skilled and sensitive job which requires an expert."

"Then you'll stay here as long as I want," Megatron said. "But there is an alternative. Give me the blueprint of your cog as well and I'll authorise Hook to repair you." Femmes had slightly smaller transformation cogs than mechs, simply because they were slightly smaller in general. To get a blueprint from another femme would make repairs much easier. _But you'll stay here in case there's anything else I need from you for Dreamtime and her friends._

"I'd really rather go home," Chromia said. "My friends will be worrying about me. And the cog would be three things for you, and so far you haven't even agreed to one thing for me."

"Ah, yes, your friends. Ironhide, no doubt." Megatron smirked. "I'd be happy to agree to the repairs in exchange for the pleasure programme and the blueprints for the data exchange unit and the cog."

"I want to go back to the Ark," Chromia insisted.

"That's not on offer. But repairs are." Megatron smiled, his lips stretched over his teeth. He stepped towards Chromia and lowered his voice. "Don't forget I have a recording of your sex session with Starscream. You'll take _my_ terms or I'll send it to Prime by special delivery." He hadn't failed to notice the sound of her plate opening, and he was sure she wouldn't want Ironhide to know about that. Or Optimus Prime, for that matter.

Chromia seemed to be communicating with Starscream again. Megatron wondered whether there was really anything between them as he watched the play of emotions across her features.

"All right," she said. "I give you the blueprints and the programme, you agree not to hurt Starscream and to get my injuries repaired, and not to send the recording."

"Done," Megatron said. "Three things for three things. Fair?"

"_May_be," Chromia acknowledged.

"You're hard to please!" Megatron observed. He cast a quick glance at Starscream.

"Megatron, I've been thinking," Starscream said. "As regards the code for the girls' personality chips, I'm guessing Stomp isn't exactly an expert, in which case it may be possible to restore the original settings just by reconfiguring the chips."

Megatron pointed a finger at him. "Now _that's_ an idea worth exploring, probably one of the few good ones you've ever had. But let's get the easier things sorted out first. Chromia, come with me!" He beckoned to her. "Soundwave, bring your kit. Starscream – follow. And call the rest of your trine here. We'll need their help."

*

It was just dark. Earth's satellite had risen, and it was a full moon. A familiar shape zoomed overhead as Ironhide watched from his hiding place in a cave under the cliffs below Clerith Point Power Station. The beach echoed to the hollow _boom_ of waves on its surface.

_If Laserbeak's looking for me, _he reasoned, _he won't be alone. There'll be others – but which ones? And how do I get past them in my current state?_

He looked out of the cave entrance. The sea seemed to be approaching rapidly now. It must be almost high tide, but how high would the waters reach? The sand looked soft and dry outside the cave, as if water hadn't penetrated it for some months, but Ironhide wasn't at all sure if that meant anything. He wished he knew more about the tides on this planet.

He'd come to at the sound of Megatron's fusion cannon high up on the bluff above him. At his back lay the rock outcrop he'd fetched up against, and underneath him the grass and earth felt soft, but supporting. Ironhide heaved himself upright, rubbing at his forehead where his processor ached from the violent contact with the rocks, his systems still disoriented. He was sure there was a dent there. As he rounded the edge of the outcrop he lost his balance again, and the next second he was tumbling feet first down a tunnel. Rolling from side to side as he fell, in a few Cybertronian feet he'd gathered as many dents and scratches as he would in a routine firefight. But within astroseconds he'd come to rest at the bottom of the tunnel, as his head connected with the rocks again.

It seemed much later that he slowly regained a sense of awareness of his surroundings. He checked his internal chronometer. Nearly four groons had passed since the battle on the hills above.

_Damn that last rock I hit,_ he thought. _I could have been out of here and back at the _Ark_ getting myself fixed and having a nice comfy recharge with –_ _Slaggit, Chromia!_ _What happened to her? _He remembered Starscream jumping between her and the collapsing clifftop, his own efforts to retrieve her, Prime coming to help and Megatron firing at them –

Then – nothing. He'd fought down a moment of panic for what might have happened to Chromia. She certainly wouldn't be safe in the company of either Megatron or Starscream. Then logic reasserted itself. Hopefully Prime might have been able to get her out from under Starscream and the rocks. The other Autobots had probably gone back to HQ, but in case they hadn't, he sent a quick digital message to Prime.

No answer. _Which means he's either offline or out of range._ Ironhide was beginning to get worried now. _Because if he's offline, what happened to Chromia? _He tried her and got the same result. _But she's sensible. She'll do whatever she needs to do to protect herself._ And there would be no tackling the situation until he could get help, which meant he needed to get back to the _Ark_.

Ironhide turned back to the beach, and to his horror, the only remaining dry land was a strip about the width of a road. Would the tide come in even more? He had no idea how far he was from steps or a road back up the cliff. And Laserbeak was swooping about overhead. As Ironhide watched, the mechanical condor's outline flitted in front of the Moon. His near-black silhouette contrasted sharply with the silvery disk.

There was nothing for it. He'd have to make a run for it, observed or not. He could only hope Laserbeak was alone.

Ironhide crept out of the cave and onto the foreshore, still in robot mode since the cave was too small for him to transform in. The strip of dry sand would do for him to slip into vehicle mode, but it was likely that he'd be spotted then. But he had no choice. He hunkered down on the sand and initiated the transformation.

At that moment he heard Laserbeak diving towards him. The condor was firing continuously.

Ironhide accelerated as soon as he finished transforming. His tyres ripped up the beach. The surface became still more uneven. He drove as fast as he could. He could hear that the tide was still coming in. The swash of the waves breaking on the shore sounded closer and closer. The tinkling sounds, Ironhide realised, were pebbles clinking together as the backwash sucked sand and pebbles back into the sea. He chugged over the bumpy sand. He felt himself bounce around over dips and mounds. He dared not go too fast for the sand kicking out around him. _If it enters any sensitive areas...I won't think about that!_ Ironhide had to weave from one side of the beach to the other to avoid Laserbeak's fire. Progress was slow.

The condor had the advantage. He was in the air.

But Ironhide was also handicapped in that he wasn't sure what he was aiming for. They'd arrived by road, but he wasn't certain where the road was in relation to his position on the beach – or how he was going to get up there to pick it up again. He made a large-scale projection of the 3-d map simulation of the area into his cab and scanned it. There! What he was looking for was three Earth miles along the beach. He changed up a gear and sped for it, still weaving from side to side across the strip of beach.

He was nearly there when Laserbeak got lucky and scored a shot on his rear door. A damage report confirmed what he'd felt. The metal was neatly holed. It wouldn't stop him from functioning, but it might make it more difficult under certain circumstances.

He could see the steps cut into the cliffside, which was higher here than at the cave. He waited until the last moment, then transformed and took the steps at a run, using the momentum from his drive to keep moving. It wasn't easy. Laserbeak had closed the gap between them. On the narrow stairway he couldn't weave to avoid the condor's fire. He sprinted up the steps as fast as he could.

He was travelling fast enough that he barely saw the shadow as it leapt at him at the top of the cliff. But a familiar snarl told him the identity of his attacker even as his optics did. Ravage. The mechanical jaguar knocked him to the ground, paws on his shoulders, claws extended for a killing blow.

Ironhide knew he had to get away from Ravage. The jaguar was an adept fighter, and fierce enough to make up for the differences in size and posture. He gathered up all his considerable strength and flung the jaguar off him as he rolled over on top of him, transformed back to van mode and drove off, crushing both the jaguar's front paws. The clifftop road was narrow, but it had a reasonable surface. _I can get home,_ Ironhide thought, and it was enough to give him more speed.

The clifftop road zigzagged about, sometimes an arm's length from the edge, mostly further away. Ironhide detected Laserbeak circling overhead and approaching on the attack – or perhaps to rescue his injured brother.

_Fssht-Fssht! Fssht-Fssht! _

Ironhide felt the laser fire singe his rear fender. _No, he's coming in for the kill,_ he realised. He hastily checked his ammunition supplies. _I'm gonna get that pesky bird! _He stopped and transformed back to root mode.

Laserbeak zoomed in closer, perhaps sensing a possible victory.

But Ironhide waited until he was close enough and fired liquid nitrogen from his rifle. It sloshed over Laserbeak and solidified on him. Steam rose from his wings, underside, and engine mountings. Ironhide swung around as the immobilised condor zoomed overhead. He fired again. Laserbeak's turbine was hit this time. With a shriek of pain and fear he crashed into the hillside.

_Better get out of here,_ Ironhide decided. It would be a long trip home, and he was running out of energon. _Best keep my speed down so I can make it._ He set off, carefully monitoring his fuel supply.

But before he'd travelled half a terrestrial mile, Ratbat divebombed him. His fangs were opened ready to bite, seeking to drain his energon supply. Unlike Laserbeak he wouldn't avoid close combat, so he'd be more difficult to fight off. The ability to steal others' fuel gave Ratbat a huge advantage over other Transformers. Ironhide was as vulnerable as anyone else, particularly as his supply was low at present.

He brought up his rifle again and fired before Ratbat could attack. A burst of flame erupted from the rifle and enveloped the mechanical bat. Ironhide took advantage of his confusion and pain, transformed back to van mode, and sped off. _I should have enough fuel to get home,_ he thought. He drove for a time at his highest speed, but with no sign of further pursuit he relaxed and adopted a more leisurely speed which would conserve his fuel.

It was some time before he arrived at the _Ark_, his fuel gauge just registering empty. He transformed to robot mode and staggered inside Autobot HQ.

Bumblebee and Prowl, both injured, met him in the entrance corridor.

"Where have you been?" Bumblebee asked. "We've been really worried about you. There's a search party out now, looking for you."

Ironhide explained what had happened to him briefly, then asked, "Where's Prime?"

"Resting up after surgery. Ratchet had to rebuild his right leg," Prowl told him.

That didn't sound good to Ironhide. "And – Chromia?" He hardly dared ask.

"I'm sorry, Ironhide." Prowl put his hand on Ironhide's arm. "The 'Cons took her."

*

"Slag it, Starscream –" Skywarp began, as they followed Megatron down the corridor towards Hook's medbay.

"Don't swear in front of a lady!" Starscream snapped.

Skywarp glanced over Starscream's injuries again. "But why on Cybertron did you let yourself get in this state?" he demanded, spreading his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "And all for an Autobot femme. This'll be a nightmare to fix."

"He's not being repaired," Megatron said over his shoulder. "He's betrayed me once too often."

_What was I supposed to do, Megatron? Nobody, not even you, can help who they fall in love with, and I didn't want Chromia to be hurt,_ Starscream thought, but he pressed his lips together and remained silent. At least he'd managed to save her from receiving the kind of injuries he'd got.

They arrived in medbay.

"Hook, you can repair the Autobot femme, seeing as that was part of the bargain." Megatron waved the surgeon to Chromia's side as she stood beside his operating table.

Hook's expression shouted disapproval, but he said nothing, just indicated that Chromia should get onto the operating table with a contemptuous pointing of his index finger.

Megatron stood nearby, explaining to Hook what he needed him to do. Then he turned to his Communications Officer. "Soundwave, download the pleasure programme and blueprints while Hook's working on Chromia."

Soundwave set up his equipment beside the operating table.

[You should check your personal firewalls now and activate them if necessary,] Starscream sent to Chromia, [in case Soundwave tries to upload anything you don't want while he's downloading your data.]

[Thanks for the warning.] Chromia made optical contact with Starscream and smiled at him from the operating table as she activated them.

"Thundercracker, Skywarp, you can get the new data exchange terminals made up when Soundwave has Chromia's blueprint. Soundwave and I will upload the pleasure programme to Dreamtime and her friends first. Starscream, go fetch them."

_He speaks to me as if I were his personal servant._ Starscream's spark was bursting with resentment as he limped along the corridor towards the quarters he'd assigned to the four femmes. _And what about making Chromia give him the downloads while Hook's fixing her injuries! Though I suppose it might take her mind off her repairs._ Everyone knew Hook had some sadistic tendencies, though a competent surgeon when necessary.

Inside the armour plating at his crotch, the damaged data exchange terminal hurt with a sharp stabbing pain as he walked, his leg cydraulics jabbed him at every step, and his whole body ached from his injuries. His wing clacked as he moved. It was fractured, and the wingtip had torn in the rockfall and was folded over on itself. Added to that, he was still falling from the emotional high he'd experienced during the simulated sex session with Chromia. _I'm never going to even hold her in my arms again,_ he thought, and despair plunged him down a black corridor of depression. His energon levels were plummeting, too, and by the time he reached the femmes' rooms he was ready to collapse. Feeling as if he hardly cared if he lived or not, he tapped on the door of the communal room which connected their living quarters, leaning against the wall for support.

It took a few astroseconds for the door to be opened.

"Starscream!" It was Tendertouch. "Are you all right?"

"N- no."

"What's the matter?" she asked. "You look terrible! Whatever happened to you?"

"Injured in battle. Sent to fetch you," Starscream muttered. He felt almost as dizzy as he had when his equilibrium chip had been damaged, and was beginning to wonder if he'd make it back.

"You'd better come in." Tendertouch helped him into the room. "Help me get him to the couch, girls."

Starscream was a full head taller than any of the femmes, and with the extra weight of his weapons they struggled to support him. Eventually he was able to subside onto one of the couches near the centre of the room. "S-sorry," he mumbled. "Low on energon –"

"No problem, we can sort that out!" Shadowkiss brought him a glass containing the pinkish liquid. "Drink this."

He sipped gratefully at the brew. The femmes' attention was balm to his abraded emotions. His head soon cleared and he felt better equipped to explain why he was there, although he wasn't ready for the return trip. "Megatron wants me to take you back to Hook's medbay so that he and Soundwave can load you a new pleasure programme."

Dreamtime wasn't the only one whose features lit up. The femmes' smiles dazzled him.

"How did he get one?" Dreamtime asked. "I thought we were the only femmes here."

"There's another here at present," he said. "An Autobot prisoner offered to let Megatron copy her pleasure programme and download the blueprint for her data exchange terminal and transformation cog so that you four could be repaired." He took another gulp from the glass to distract himself from the thought of Chromia. When she left the base, when her friends came for her, as they were sure to do, he'd never see her again. _I should have made it with her when I had the chance. Before I met her again the other deca-cycle, I wouldn't have thought twice about it, _he told himself, then chided himself for the thought.

"How do you know about our pleasure programmes?" asked Hotstuff.

"And our data exchange terminals?" Tendertouch added.

"Not to mention our transformation cogs," Shadowkiss said.

"It's a long story," Starscream said. "And there's no time now." He knocked back the rest of the energon and added, "Megatron wanted me to take you to him as soon as possible. And, uh –" He held up the glass and waggled it to and fro a couple of times. "It's probably best to keep quiet about this."

Feeling slightly better, he shepherded the four femmes towards the door. When they saw he was limping they wanted to make him lie down but he knew that if he didn't do what he'd been told to do, and quickly, he'd incur Megatron's wrath. "No – never mind about me," he told them. "We must go back."

"But – you're hurt," Dreamtime protested.

"So were you," he said, "but you still came with us. Let's go!"

He struggled back along the corridors, determined they wouldn't see how bad the damage was. _After all, _he thought, _Dreamtime's injury was so major that she couldn't go anywhere at all without support._ Somehow he made it back and led them into the control room.

Megatron and Soundwave were waiting. Hook was still working on Chromia.

"What took you so long?" Megatron demanded.

"He's hurt, Megatron!" Dreamwave protested.

"It's his own fault," Megatron said. "Don't give him any sympathy!"

Starscream subsided in a corner, his head in his hands.

"How can being injured in battle be 'his own fault'?" Dreamtime persisted.

"He tried to save the Autobot femme he's got a crush on."

Starscream peered out at the occupants of the room between his fingers, mortified to realise that now everyone would know of his feelings for Chromia. But when his gaze fell on her, she was smiling at him, in at least a kindly way. _Everything she does just makes me realise how wonderful she is. _He tried to smile back, and thought he'd failed miserably.

Megatron's impatience roughened his voice. "Now, can we get this programme uploaded?"

None of the femmes made a move.

Starscream roused himself. "Remember...you have to give them an instruction, Megatron. That's what I've found works best when I'm teaching –"

"Fine, then. Dreamtime, sit over here." Megatron pointed to a chair near Soundwave's equipment. The harsh tone of his voice betrayed his impatience.

She obeyed without a word.

"Open your programming port," Soundwave intoned. When she did so, he inserted a cable that stretched from the equipment. "Programme uploading."

When the tell-tale on his console stopped flashing Soundwave disconnected the cable from Dreamtime and called Hotstuff over.

Shadowkiss had crept over to Thundercracker's side. "What are you doing, TC?"

Starscream watched her shyly slip her hand through Thundercracker's arm, and couldn't suppress his envy.

"Making you a new data exchange terminal from Chromia's blueprint."

"Is she the one who –"

"– Generously donated a copy of her pleasure programme for you?" Thundercracker guessed. "Yes." He continued working on the tiny components.

Starscream could see even from his position on the floor that the whole unit would be less than the length of a fleshling's finger across when completed.

"You are allowed to speak directly to me, you know!" Chromia's tone was indignant.

Thundercracker looked embarrassed. "Sorry, Chromia."

Shadowkiss crossed the room to stand by Chromia. "Thank you," she said, in a voice that was so quiet it was almost a whisper.

"Shadowkiss, come over here," Megatron called.

*

_Oh for Ratchet's expertise!_Chromia thought. While competent, Hook wasn't exactly gentle on her sore knee and shoulder as he banged out the dents, and it evidently hadn't occurred to him to use low-intensity EMP to dull the pain of both the injuries and their remedy. _Or perhaps he couldn't,_ she reflected, _since Soundwave was downloading the data from me._

The femmes were approaching. Chromia saw no Decepticon symbols on either chassis or shoulder; they looked clean and shining, their bodywork well-polished, with no transformation scratches. She remembered that Megatron had said they'd been locked in root mode.

"Can we talk to you, Chromia?" asked Shadowkiss. The other three stood shoulder to shoulder with her.

"Of course."

"I can tell that I'm different already, thanks to you," Shadowkiss continued.

"I'm pleased to hear it." Chromia smiled at her. "I'm glad I was able to help. I was appalled when Megatron explained what had happened to you. "

"We were scared of Stomp because of what he did to us. But we're not so afraid now."

"Do you know why he did what he did?"

Shadowkiss hesitated. "He – I think he wanted us to be dependent on him."

"I'd guess he's finding out now how dependent he was on _you_, then," Chromia smiled. For the moment at least, she decided, these femmes were no threat, just rather vulnerable.

She looked across at Starscream again. He'd slumped back into the corner and bowed his head. She suspected it was so that he didn't have to look at her. _Megatron humiliated him in front of his subordinates, and he's finding it hard to cope with his embarrassment._ Megatron himself stood watching Thundercracker and Skywarp work.

Hook put down the blowtorch he'd been using to seal up the snags in her armour. "You're done, Autobot," he growled, pointing to the chair the femmes had used, beside Soundwave's kit. "You can rest there while that cools. It'll need repainting later. I need the operating table now."

Chromia sat up stiffly and eased herself off the table. She went over to the chair and sat down, grateful that she didn't have to stand yet.

Hook called the first of the femmes over. "Dreamtime!"

She came and got onto the operating table, smiling at Chromia but not saying anything. Megatron was still watching from the corner of the room, punctuating his surveillance with a conversation with Soundwave. Starscream hadn't moved, or even looked up.

"Are those units ready yet?" Megatron asked Thundercracker.

"Here's the first one," Skywarp said, bringing it over.

Chromia mentally compared the set-up in the Decepticons' medbay with that of the Ark. That was in a corner of the main control room, but there were other, more private areas which Ratchet used if necessary. Here, there would be no privacy for the four femmes, since it was fairly unusual for Hook to have female patients, but they didn't seem to mind. Chromia guessed they'd just be glad that they were going to be repaired.

"Open your chest case," Hook instructed Dreamtime. "I'm going to have to put this in place from above. It shouldn't take long, but I may need to remove some parts to get there."

Dreamtime opened her chest case and lay down. Hook leaned over her, examining the distribution of parts, Chromia guessed. _How could that pimp have removed their data exchange units so easily?_ she wondered. _It's a fairly major operation, unless he was used to doing that kind of thing._ She watched as Hook turned his head this way and that, considering the best approach.

"Dreamtime, I think the best way to do this will be to temporarily disconnect and remove your driveshaft," Hook announced at last.

"Doesn't matter, I haven't been able to transform for a few million years," she said. "I just want to get functional again."

"I can reconnect it as soon as the new data exchange unit is in place, and perhaps get you transforming again tomorrow or the day after," Hook said. He shook his head, and added to Megatron. "I can't believe a pimp could do so much damage to his girls, especially considering their line of work. Even _I_ know it's barbaric!" His hand was already inside Dreamtime's chest case, rhythmically turning a spanner despite the confined space he had to work in.

"Stomp _is_ a barbarian," Shadowkiss said. She was watching from beside Thundercracker. "He wanted Dreamtime to work after she lost her leg."

Chromia looked across at Megatron. He didn't say anything, but his anger was plain to see in his slitted optics and the tightness of his mouth, the narrowness of his normally wide lower lip. _And for once, _she thought, _that anger isn't directed at me or my friends._ It was a strange feeling.

But she was glad that the femmes were to be helped. She remembered the TV programme about the Suffragettes, and told herself, _I'm a Cybertronian Suffragette! _The thought made her smile.

"What's so funny, Autobot?" Megatron asked. He looked tense.

_Probably doesn't trust me,_ Chromia thought, as she explained about the Suffragettes. _Or he's worried about his girlfriend._ But she pushed that thought away as improbable.

Megatron walked over to Starscream. "Is this true?"

"Yes, of course," Starscream said. "I saw it too. Anyway, Chromia wouldn't lie."

"Whose idea was it to go and get these four femmes?" Chromia asked.

"Well, you don't think the Autobots have a monopoly on sending off to Cybertron for some female company, do you?" Megatron countered.

"Actually it was my idea to go and get them, after seeing you and the others at the Ark," Starscream interjected. "But I had no idea they'd been interfered with in that way."

"They knew, but couldn't say," Megatron said, his voice still an uneven growl. "They can only answer direct questions, and if you ask the wrong question you get the wrong answer." His expression reflected the anger he never bothered to conceal.

"Message received from the control room. Fighting reported in sector seventeen of base," Soundwave intoned.

"What about?" Megatron demanded. "Put it onscreen."

The large screen in the corner of the medbay, normally used for medical purposes, filled up with images: Brawl against Drag Strip. Thrust against Blitzwing. Decepticon against Decepticon. A crowd was watching and cheering them on with every blow that was struck.

"Why would a femme bother with _you_?" Drag Strip shouted.

"Why not? Anyway, there's no reason for you to feel so proud." Brawl landed a vicious punch on Drag Strip's head. "No femme would choose you over me!"

"Go for it, Brawl!" Carnivac yelled from the crowd.

"They're fighting over femmes that don't even exist!" Megatron exclaimed. "Starscream, Skywarp, restore order and confine them to quarters!"

They left, Starscream still limping. Chromia watched the screen when they'd gone. Within a breem the Seekers arrived in the thick of the fight. Starscream raised his arms for silence. "Decepticons! Stop fighting!" But they were intent on their squabbling. "Break a few heads, 'Warp," Starscream added, more quietly. Chromia could see he was having trouble holding up his arms, and his broken wing was wobbling almost as much as they were.

Skywarp waded in and bashed a few heads.

"What did you do that for?" Blitzwing demanded, breaking off fighting for just long enough to speak, and getting clobbered again for his pains, this time by his erstwhile sparring partner.

Chromia looked from the screen to Megatron and back. _It's very evident that Starscream and Skywarp are locked into the same behaviour as Megatron because they copy him as a kind of defence against him. And that probably applies to all the other 'Cons,_ she thought.

"You all need to _listen!_" Starscream bellowed. "Megatron's very displeased with you. You're all confined to quarters until further notice. Anyone that breaks curfew will be publicly punished. Now go."

"We want femmes too! It's all very well for you. You jumped in and took up with those girls you brought back from Cybertron," Blitzwing cried. "What do we get? Nothing."

"We heard Megatron's thinking of building some femmes. Well, _we_ want some."

"Not true at present. You have your instructions," Skywarp said crisply. "Now go."

Sulking, they dispersed towards what Chromia presumed was their quarters. The Seekers set out for the Control Room and passed out of the camera's view.

Chromia turned to Megatron, standing up. "Am I to take it that my 'data contribution', as you put it, will be used for your new femmes as well, when you decide to build them?" she asked with a touch of asperity in her voice.

Megatron inclined his head. "Believe me, Chromia, I'm most grateful."

"I bet." She'd picked up the triumphant undertone in his voice. "Well, make _good_ use of it!"

"Indeed I will." Megatron's smile told Chromia he was enjoying winding her up. My new reinforcements, when I get them, will be _dual-purpose_."

Half-rising from her chair, Chromia was struggling to keep the anger out of her voice and her expression calm now. "I suppose it was inevitable that you'd have to – uh – _keep up with the Joneses_, to borrow an expression from the flesh creatures."

"Indeed it was, my dear." Megatron smirked.

_The arrogance of him!_ She sank back down.

The door slid open. Skywarp walked in, followed by Starscream. Skywarp went straight over to his workstation and the data exchange unit he'd been building.

Starscream hobbled to Chromia's side. "Are you OK?"

"Fine."

[You sound and look pretty annoyed.]

Chromia sighed. [Actually, I am. But not with you.]

[I'm glad about that.] He cast a glance towards Megatron, who was speaking in a low voice with Dreamtime. Then he looked back at Chromia again.

"Chromia, what you did on my behalf was incredibly brave, and on the girls' behalf it was incredibly generous. I want you to know that I really appreciate it, and I know they do." He hesitated before adding, [I'll make sure you – get home safely. Even if you-know-who blows his top with me.]

[Thank you. Are _you_ all right? I saw you were limping.]

[The big M bust a cydraulic cable in my leg.] Starscream switched to speaking aloud, perhaps to avoid suspicion from Megatron, who had glanced over at them a couple of times. "I'll manage. I always do."


	9. Chapter 9: Escape

Undercover

Cleargold

Chapter 9: Escape

_A/N: Espe = a Cybertronian inch. Deca-Cycle = approximately three weeks._

_Rating: M_

_Lemon alert! No like, no read._

_//...// Marks the use of telepathic communication between the Casseticons and Soundwave. The animal-based Casseticons don't have the power of speech, but share a loose association with Soundwave and the other Casseticons, which allows them to communicate telepathically, thanks to Soundwave's telepathic abilities. It is, however, range-limited, and has no "sexual" implications. _

_To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so._

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own the OCs in this story._

_Acknowledgements: As ever, many thanks to Mirage Shinkiro and Mdnytryder for betaing for me and to Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud. _

*

"Starscream, you'd better go back to the holding cell with Chromia," Megatron said. "I don't feel I can trust you to do anything else at the moment."

_At least I'll get to spend a bit more time with her,_ Starscream thought, aware at the same time that if he wanted to lose the inappropriate feelings he had for her, that wasn't the way.

He limped along, sandwiched between Thundercracker and Skywarp, furious that Megatron had chosen his subordinates to guard them. _He's just rubbing it in!_ As the cell door rolled shut behind him, Starscream clenched his fists, tempted to smash them against the walls.

[Don't do it, Starscream, you'll just hurt yourself more.] Chromia used the digital channel he'd used earlier. [Don't give Megatron the satisfaction!]

Starscream was surprised that she'd chosen to use the channel with him, but pleased that she'd shown such discretion. [You're right.] He dropped his fists to his sides.

"Here," she said, coming closer to him and lifting both arms as if asking for comfort. "We might as well make ourselves comfortable. I think we'll be here for a while."

He sought her optics and held her gaze. "Ironhide's sure to come for you. If he finds us together, he'll probably object very strongly. I don't personally have a problem with punching his lights out, but you might not be very happy if I did that."

Chromia giggled. "He is a bit jealous of you at present, I admit."

_Who wouldn't be?_ Starscream asked himself.

She slid her arm through his. "He never really has been before, either. I suppose it's because we've been apart for so long and only just got to spend some time together, but I don't like him being so possessive. I love him, but I don't want to be owned. I don't belong to anyone but me."

Starscream winced, then realised that he might benefit, in this instance, from avoiding being jealous and possessive. After all, this was an insight straight from Chromia. It had the advantage of being a snapshot of her current feelings, and it was very much in keeping with the way she'd helped Dreamtime and her friends, just because they were also femmes, and were suffering.

"So come on, Starscream!" She smiled up into his face, making it hard for him to ignore her. "You feel comfortable with me, don't you? I'm not giving you a come-on, I just thought we'd both feel better if you rested by me. After all, you're pretty badly injured."

He considered this. "Well, it's certainly been a long orn." He wouldn't admit more than this, however comfortable he felt with her; he was sure they were under surveillance, after all, and he didn't want to appear less tough than Ironhide would have in the same situation.

He cast a glance over at the berth, still bolted to the floor in the corner of the cell, and, no doubt, still studded with sensors to pick up the slightest change in their operating parameters, from which, he suspected, Soundwave's piece of kit had been able to deduce his pleasure programme. "Ugh!" he said aloud. It made his living metal crawl beneath the armour plating. _There's no way I'm getting on that berth again! _He allowed himself to slide to the floor, leaning back against the bulkhead.

But she settled beside him. He put his arm around her. They sprawled against the wall together for a long time, not talking. The surveillance lights never faltered, however late it became. Starscream remembered how he too had watched prisoners under their harsh glare.

Eventually Chromia shut herself down to recharge and conserve what fuel she had. None had been forthcoming for either of them.

It wasn't long before Starscream followed suit.

*

Ravage onlined to a sensation of intense pain in both forelegs. Then, nothing. The pain came again. Like a pulsing beacon, the pain assumed a brightness in his mind, then winked out as if non-existent. _Stab_. Nothing. _Stab. _Nothing. Every _stab_ was accompanied by a slight _bzzzt._ It was a sound he immediately associated with short-circuiting.

He rolled over onto his side in the darkness. As he warily unshuttered his optics, he glimpsed his injured limbs in their glow. In time with the stab of pain, the blue-white glow of an electrical discharge bloomed, half-blinding Ravage, and disabling his normally excellent night vision. As the brightness faded in time with the gap, his sight began to return, only to be disabled again with the short-circuit's next light burst. Knowing he needed to cover his injury to allow his sight to return to a fully-functional state, Ravage looked around him. But there was nothing he could use to cover his malfunctioning forelegs, so he'd have to hold them where the light would do less damage, until he could find something, or someone to help him.

Then he spotted it. A blue-and-white object, like the bags humans used to ferry goods home from the shops and supermarkets he'd seen on forays into human towns. And spilling from it, a brightly-coloured scrap of cloth. _The humans and their passion for beach games!_ Realising that his paws wouldn't take his weight, and that he'd have to get down again, he did something he'd done quite a few times before on spy missions: he wriggled forwards on his front, ignoring the scrape of rock on his body, until the bag was right beside him.

Using his teeth Ravage yanked at the cloth that someone must have dropped on their way back from the beach. It came out more easily than he'd expected. He could use the bag on one paw, and the cloth –

A gust of wind snatched the bag away. As he watched, the disabling light burst came again. Hope disappeared along with his vision.

But his sight cleared in the next gap, just as he was wriggling himself into a more useful position. He still couldn't put weight on his paws, but he caught sight of them again just as the short-circuit showered them with light. It didn't look good. Both paws were crushed, though in slightly different places, just as his sense of feeling had told him. _Damn you, Ironhide! _The Autobot security officer was a formidable opponent, and Ravage knew better than to underestimate him.

He didn't waste any more time on the absent Ironhide. He examined the cloth more closely, since he only had that to use now. It appeared to be a garment made of two equal halves, so he might be able to split it and wrap it around his injuries. He set to with his teeth. It wasn't easy to tear the fabric, and there was an inner lining to deal with as well, but Ravage was nothing if not determined. Soon he had a makeshift bandage covering his injuries; using his teeth, he'd managed to nudge the cloth between joints on his forelegs. The cloth hung down in such a way that it covered the irregular light bursts, yet there was no danger of a spark from the short-circuit igniting a fire.

He was going to have trouble getting back to the _Nemesis_, that was certain. And for all he knew, Laserbeak and Ratbat had fared no better than he had. Neither of them was in evidence, and he felt neither emotion nor thought coming from Laserbeak, just the usual sense of their presence which marked the loose association all the Casseticons shared with Soundwave. _So Laserbeak's alive, _he thought, _but either recharging or offline due to injury._ Remembering his own encounter with Ironhide, Ravage rather thought the latter was the most likely possibility. Over the vorns the Cassetticons' ability to communicate with each other over short distances, perpetuated through Soundwave, had helped them become more efficient spies. What he sensed from Ratbat was impatience and anger, but the range was too great for actual telepathic communication.

Although his front paws were damaged, his rear ones were not, so he could walk almost upright for a short while. It wouldn't be as fast as four-footed travel, but it would do for now. He struggled upright, mentally testing the direction of the presences of his brethren. Laserbeak seemed to be quite near. He hurried in his direction, aware that Ratbat was some distance away and would be harder to reach in bipedal mode.

Ahead of him the road led on. No vehicles – or flesh creatures – broke the stillness of the night. Ravage allowed a snort of frustration to escape his muzzle and stopped to survey the broken country to either side of the road. As he turned his head he spotted a pile of wreckage. It lay at the foot of one of the rocky outcrops which pierced the grassy countryside periodically. With a sinking sensation in his tank he left the road and tiptoed across the open ground. As he approached the area he could see the familiar outline of Laserbeak's head poking out of the ruin of his wings and turbines, and was aware of his presence as he got closer and closer. Finally he stood looking down at him.

//Laserbeak! Laserbeak! Arouse yourself,// he sent telepathically.

There was no reply. Ravage examined the condor's injuries. They were easily extensive enough to cause him to go into stasis lock, and he seemed to have sustained secondary injuries in the crash. It would be impossible to move him without help.

Since it was difficult to travel upright for too long, Ravage didn't waste any more time. On tiptoe, he turned back to the road. It would lead him towards Ratbat and he would use his mental senses to locate him precisely, but he was less than hopeful that he'd be able to rouse him. It was likely to be up to him to get some form of help for his brethren. Megatron could be very smug about the airborne Decepticons, but when they crashed they tended to be very badly injured.

He struggled to reach Ratbat. He had to stop and rest periodically. His own injuries were draining his energon supply. But although he knew Soundwave would already be aware that something had happened to each of them, and would find some way to help them, he was determined not to report in to him until he knew exactly what had happened to Ratbat as well.

The road seemed to stretch away into infinity, but Ravage could feel he was approaching Ratbat's location. That sustained him, and kept him upright when he felt as if, to add to his pain and stress, his back would break and his hip joints fall off. Finally he could feel that Ratbat had crashed to the left of the road. He scanned what appeared to be a field containing large animals. Before long he found Ratbat's triangular form, protruding from a hedge that ran at approximate right angles to the road at that point. The hedge poured smoke, like a fire which had failed to ignite properly. A little back from the scene, and milling around as if disturbed, was a group of the animals that lived in the field.

Ravage forgot about his injuries, his aching back and hips, his stress and Laserbeak's crash. He took a run at the wide gate which gave access to the field. The wood splintered with a _snap!_ He revelled in the sound.

A few strides took him across the field and through the black-and-white animals clustered around Ratbat's inert form. They made strange noises as he approached.

_And moo to you too!_ Ravage pushed past them.

A chorus of protests from the animals showed him their resentment of his lack of respect for them. They milled about him as he passed between them, but wouldn't approach the fire, reluctant as it was. He stopped beside Ratbat. He was a smoking ruin.

//_Get me down from here at once!_// Ratbat ordered through their loose mental linkage.

//I will get help, brother,// Ravage sent, //but my paws are crushed and non-functional. I can't lift you down.//

//Then how do you intend to get help?// Despite his obvious pain, Ratbat had lost none of his incisiveness.

//No doubt it will be difficult,// Ravage admitted. //But I will find a way.//

//And where is Laserbeak?// Ratbat demanded. //I can't contact him.//

//That's because he's in stasis lock due to his injuries.// Ravage retreated through the herd of four-legged fleshies.

//Don't just walk away from _me!_// Ratbat spat.

//I need to get within range to send Soundwave a message,// Ravage sent. //You know that. Soundwave will come as soon as he can.//

And he turned his back on Ratbat and walked purposefully away.

"Dreamtime! Come with me to my quarters." Megatron's voice was harsh.

On a cabinet that held some of Hook's surgical instruments, his fingertips were tapping out the complex pattern of drumrolls, interspersed with single beats, of the _Thunderhead Pass Overture_, written vorns ago by the classical composer Cadence. Dreamtime remembered the piece was one of Megatron's personal favourites. She could see he was getting impatient again, but she wanted to wait until all of her friends had been implanted with the new data exchange units. This had proved to be a long and complicated job for Hook, and he had yet to finish his work on Hotstuff.

Dreamtime crossed to Megatron's side. It took a huge effort to break Stomp's programming enough to raise a hand to indicate Hotstuff, who lay on the operating table.

"What – ?" Megatron asked.

Dreamtime shook her head in helplessness.

Surely it would be so simple to ask him to let her stay until Hook had finished? The words were there, waiting to be uttered. But she couldn't speak to ask for what she wanted. Her vocaliser refused to co-operate. Stomp had reprogrammed her to be the plaything of his clientèle too comprehensively.

At least she could feel the physical sensations of desire now. That was a massive improvement –

At that precise instant Soundwave came back into the medbay, walked straight over to Megatron and began speaking to him. After the first few words Megatron led him to a corner of the room so that their conversation couldn't really be overheard, though Dreamtime did hear the names Ratbat, Ravage and Laserbeak mentioned, and later, Constructicons. She didn't know what the term meant or any of the names, though, and she had no idea what had happened, but Megatron looked furious once more. He shook his head a couple of times, but then listened to what Soundwave had to say again, and finally nodded, as if in agreement.

But Dreamtime realised that she had the extra time she'd wanted to ask for. She turned back to the spare trolley hastily requisitioned earlier that evening. Hotstuff's driveshaft was the next to go back, then a few smaller parts would integrate it back into her system. Until the new transformation cogs could be implanted all of them were still locked in root mode. But surely Hotstuff must already be feeling more...aware? She reached for one of her friend's hands and squeezed it.

"Dreamtime, I need to come over to that side to finish up the job," Hook told her. "Move away now."

Dreamtime knew he was giving her an instruction rather than just being unpleasant or autocratic. She cast a sideways glance at Megatron. He was still deep in conversation with Soundwave, and he didn't look pleased at what he was hearing. Even Soundwave, normally so impassive behind his mask, seemed disquieted, changing his weight from one stabilising servo to the other and casting the occasional sideways glance at Hook. She moved away from Hotstuff to let Hook continue his work.

He bent over Hotstuff and carried on working as before. The pile of parts on the trolley dwindled as Hook deftly fitted them in place. At last he got up from beside Hotstuff, stretched and grimaced before telling Hotstuff to close her chest compartment.

Dreamtime cast another glance over at Megatron. His brow ridges met in a right angle on his forehead. But he didn't seem to be looking at her, but at Soundwave. "You can take Long Haul with you, since Ratbat, Ravage and Laserbeak are useful Decepticons," he was saying to Soundwave, "but finish your shift first."

"As you command, Megatron."

Dreamtime went over to Hotstuff and caught and squeezed her hand. "I'm glad you're repaired now, Hotstuff."

"So am I," Hotstuff said, with a smile. "I feel _so_ much better!"

As Soundwave turned and left the medbay, Dreamtime's attention was drawn back to Megatron by a sound. He was watching her, drumming again on a table. She thought he'd probably forgotten about Soundwave's mission, whatever it had been.

Dreamtime turned to Hotstuff and the others. "I need to go – Megatron's waiting for me." She crossed to his side. "I'm ready to go now," she said. "I didn't want to interrupt your conversation with Soundwave."

Megatron turned his head to the side and regarded her obliquely, a sly half-grin on his lips. "Now, why do I get the impression you were happy when Soundwave turned up because you wanted to stay and see your friends repaired?"

Dreamtime smiled sheepishly. "My friends didn't give up on me when I was injured," she said. "I don't want to give up on _them_, either."

"You can see them tomorrow," he said. "They'll be fine."

"I know." She sighed. "Are we – going back to your quarters?" She tried to slip her hand into his, but he moved it to her upper back before she could make physical contact with him, and shepherded her out of the medbay.

Megatron didn't say anything as they walked to his quarters, so Dreamtime took her cue from him and kept quiet as well. She knew he was irritated that she'd wanted to wait, but she was fairly sure he wouldn't be disappointed when they did get back to his cabin.

At last they stood outside his quarters. He punched in the code and the door opened. He stepped inside, reaching back to grasp her hand and pull her in. This time when he touched her fingers she felt a thrill deep inside her, and knew things were about to change between them.

Megatron removed the outsized fusion cannon from his arm and stowed it behind his recharge berth. "Dreamtime," he said. "Come here." His voice was as smooth as steel.

She went to him and he pulled her into his arms.

"Mmmmm..." He ran his hands over her hips and thighs, pressing her against him. "I like the way you feel, Dreamtime. Smooth, perfect, and slightly warm."

Dreamtime didn't know what to say to that, but she let his glossa part her lips and exchanged a few drops of lubricant with him. It tasted different from last time. She realised that it had a taste, a flavour all its own, slightly sweet and sharp, when previously it had merely felt wet. She pressed her glossa against his, triggering the release of more of the exquisite juices. And this time, she was aware of her own feminine hunger.

*

Megatron slid his fingers over the sleek metal of Dreamtime's back and shoulders, then allowed them to skim lower, over her hips. Now that they were here in his quarters he could feel his anger and impatience abating somewhat, and giving way to anticipation. He lifted her up and perched her on the side of his recharge berth, keeping his hands on her aft as he thrust his glossa between the cables in her neck. His hands cupped her aft and pressed her crotch plate against his. The familiar transform sound broke the silence in the room as first his plate opened, then hers. At least that still worked, probably because it had been that function that had inspired the first transformation from robot mode to alt. mode, so many vorns ago.

_Primus, I've waited such a long time for this!_ Megatron thought, as he entered her. _And this time it's going to be good for both of us –_

She was ready for him, well-lubricated. He slid smoothly inside her, and at his first thrust the pleasure programme activated and ran.

Dreamtime didn't speak but one sigh after another escaped through her intakes. She brought her hands up to his shoulders and hugged him hard against her as if she never wanted to let go.

"Like that?" Megatron asked.

She nodded, and he felt her lips on the side of his face, then her hands closed around his helmet. He felt it lifted off and placed to one side, as the furled plates on his head extended fully. He knew she'd never have dared do that before Hook's repairs – nor would he have allowed it with anyone else, or in any other circumstances – so this had to be progress – of a sort. His thoughts were confirmed when she twined one of them around the fingers of one hand and squeezed a digit between two on the other side of his head, rubbing up and down between them. It felt incredibly erotic.

In this position she couldn't move against him, though that didn't seem to matter. All it took to pleasure both of them was for him to thrust into her. She was feeling intense physical enjoyment, judging from the sound of those sighs – as was he. But he was very much in control, and she was _letting_ him lead. He thought she probably understood that he was more comfortable that way. He leaned forwards to kiss her, and as his glossa slid smoothly between her lips it triggered the flow of oral lubricant. He teased her a little by thrusting his glossa in and out of her mouth in time with his pelvic movements. But soon he could feel the pleasure programme coming towards the end of its run. Keen as he was to connect with her, he wanted to prolong the sensation for as long as possible.

So he withdrew slightly and slowed his movements, fingers kneading the smooth metal of her hips and chassis instead. Her iridescent golden optics stared into his, as if pleading for more of the pleasurable sensations.

"Wait," he said.

"C-can't!"

"Yes, you can." He grinned against her chin, pleased at her desire. _This is an improvement!_

The respite had cooled his ardour but not his appetite, and he was ready for more now. He plunged into her, crushing her against him, relishing the stab of intense physical pleasure that raced up his data exchange prong and echoed around and through it like an electrical storm.

"Oh, ooh, uuh!" Dreamtime cried.

"Felt that too, eh?" He lifted her slightly off the berth, and felt her buck against him as she suddenly had the freedom to move. That was it, he couldn't hold off any more. With an audible click, the tip of his data exchange prong buried itself in her terminal.

As he set her back down on the berth there was an instant change in awareness. Megatron could feel every espe of Dreamtime's body as if it were part of his own; he could hear the minute sounds that signalled that it was functioning; feel the pulse of electrical currents in her processor; see his own image as if through her optics; and taste his own oral lubricant as it lingered on her glossa. His olfactory sensors could even detect the faint sweetish scent of burning energon that surrounded him, which he never usually noticed. Dreamtime's sensors, he realised, were coming alive again, functioning in a way they hadn't done for a very long time.

And on a different level entirely, his mind reached out like a hand for the contents of hers, and was rewarded by a stream of files. And as each one opened intimately for him, he felt her reaching into his mind for his own files. He clenched his hand, knowing an astrosecond's disquiet in case she learned too much. But his personal firewalls were secure; he lowered them by just one level, and allowed her in on a limited basis.

As he ransacked her memories, quickly discarding any that spoke of other lovers, he felt her own invasion of his memory core begin. He'd already locked down any files relating to Starscream, seeing as he was Dreamtime's shooting instructor, and likewise, her friends' and their lovers' files. It was a matter of discretion.

But what he discovered from her was that she had no firewalls. Perhaps Stomp had decided that in removing her data exchange unit he'd removed any risks, so she no longer needed them, and had deleted them. For her own sake, that would have to be rectified, and soon, in case she should be captured and interrogated or infected with a virus. He made a mental note to see to it at the start of the next orn.

Megatron hadn't ceased wondering, ever since Dreamtime had come back into his life, what her feelings towards him might be. His curiosity was spilling over, and his search led him to her most recent memories as well as more distant ones.

But a recurring image kept intruding. It consisted mainly of touch, taste, smell and emotional memories, anchored in a desert of blackness. He could feel a smooth surface behind his back, just as if he were there; eventually he identified it as a wall, so close that it restricted his movements. The tramp of stabilising servos up and down the stairs, snatches of conversation punctuated by the sounds of hasty and energetic couplings, and the sputter and irregular flashes of an electrical short-circuit were the only sights and sounds he could see and hear. And his major emotion was a processor-freezing fear of being locked in the darkness of that tiny compartment, hidden behind a false wall in Stomp's brothel. He could barely move, especially as he was lying on the floor on his good side.

He felt Dreamtime shudder against him, and knew it was because she was reliving that memory with him. There was literally nothing he feared, so this emotion was new for him, and he couldn't quite suppress a resurgence of his earlier impatience. She picked it up straight away, and her own emotion flooded back into him: resentment at his attitude and the need for comfort. "Not everyone's made the same way," she murmured.

Megatron relaxed against her. "Show me," he said.

He felt her fear just at remembering. Although it had been a necessary imprisonment, her disablement had just made her claustrophobia worse. The fear was, like the pain that racked her torn-off leg stump, advancing and receding with the sizzle of shorting circuits; and the worst thing about it had been her complete inability to do anything about it. If the Seekers hadn't come, she would still be not only officially dead, but also close to actual death from energon starvation. She'd never spoken of this, and he'd never guessed how bad it had been for her. But now, far from decrying her fear as weakness, he recognised that she'd bravely tried to cope with her fear in an experience that had seemed as if it would never end.

He held her as close as he could, cursing his own impatience earlier for leading them both into this situation. The fear felt horrible, and he wanted to be done with it, but he understood that for her, that memory was stored and lay in wait for her, ready to surface as she recharged. He felt her clutch at him, and responded by stroking her back and aft in small circular movements, trying to reassure her that she was really all right and it was only a memory now.

Another shudder told him that he hadn't succeeded, and although he wanted to comfort her the words wouldn't come. He'd never found emotional situations easy to deal with, since they were governed by unpredictable, and often unfathomable, principles. It was impossible to utter words he'd never heard from anyone else, especially when he didn't even know what words he should say. He'd never needed those words before. And his vocaliser was immobilised by pride.

But there was another option. Distracting her from that negative memory might work just as well for her; his pleasure would be hers and vice versa, creating a feedback loop between them. But it was unlikely to give her the impetus to fling away the last vestige of Stomp's power over herself. Megatron knew that reversing Stomp's programming was something else he needed to attend to, and he hadn't yet decided on the best way to go about it.

He dismissed the thought and started to move against her again, although they were still physically connected. He'd been going to do that anyway; it was just a bit sooner than he'd intended.

*

Dreamtime was still in thrall to that hideous memory when she felt Megatron thrusting into her again, the segments of his data exchange prong stretching and squeezing back together inside her in response to his movements. His vocaliser emitted a rumble of satisfaction as his lips found hers.

He felt her consign the memory back to a dark corner of her processor as she kissed him back in a frenzy of desire. "Why are you doing that?"

"I can do whatever I want to. No-one has a monopoly on how others interface!" He grinned. "Not complaining, are you?"

"Er – no. It's just that I didn't expect it. Actually it's – it feels rather nice."

His smile grew wider.

"But doesn't it make you sore – down there?"

Megatron shrugged. "Not really."

"You...you never did that before."

"No. It's just something I learned along the way."

She began to search through his memories again, and compare them with her own. No, there was nothing about this while they were together...it was new. That meant he must have tried it out with...

His own memory supplied the answer, apparently willingly. She saw, heard, and felt a succession of partners, in every position imaginable. She was there, was those partners, was him as well as herself, simultaneously.

"Are you jealous?" he teased, grinning as he gave an extra hard shove against her pelvic joints.

"No –" The jolt to her circuits made her wince at the pressure. But she couldn't deny that it felt good. She looked up and saw his lips twitch with mockery and amusement, and added, "Sounds like you _want_ me to be, though!" with her own mischievous smile. "Show me something else. I don't want to know about the other femmes you've been with. Show me what's been happening to you since I last saw you."

"Are you sure you're ready for that?"

"I'm sure." She reached up and kissed him again. "I want to know."

He opened some more files for her. She saw how he'd followed a group of other Transformers to the planet they were currently on, the battle which had led to the crash and the deactivation of all of them, and their revival. She saw the various battles between Megatron's fighters and the other group, winning sometimes, losing sometimes. She didn't pick up any emotional content, though. Physical sensations, but not emotion. That was locked away from her, and his firewalls were utterly secure. And she knew he could feel her disappointment when she didn't find what she was looking for.

Megatron jammed his pelvis hard against hers. "Focus, Dreamtime – I want to give you the best overload of your whole life," he murmured. "Whatever it is you're after, it can – nng! – wait!"

His movements became more regular, then more urgent, as he was caught up in the pleasure programme again and swept her along with him. As he thrust harder and harder she felt the electrical storms rage in his pleasure circuits. Sensing them made her feel them too. His fierce passion filled her body, setting it tingling and vibrating, as one jolt of electricity after another passed between them. At the end, he pulled her against him so hard she thought her pelvic plate would buckle, and poured waves of electricity like lightning strikes into her, until she collapsed back onto the berth behind her and knew no more.

When she came to, several breems had passed and they lay intertwined on the berth. He turned his head to look into her optics, and she wondered if he could still feel her emotions now that they were disconnected. Because then he'd know, and she still hadn't any idea what _his_ feelings for her really were. And what she'd seen and felt in his files had disturbed her somewhat.

He had many impulses, but relatively few recognisable emotions. It was as if he'd deliberately expunged them from his memory core, or perhaps had never taken enough notice of them to register them.

"What?" Megatron asked. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"Nothing. At least, nothing you can do anything about."

"Don't be so sure." Megatron's smile widened. "I can do _anything_ I want!"

"You can't change the past."

"But I can improve the future." His arms tightened about her, and the smile left his lips. "For both of us."

"Yes. The future is looking much better now. Not only that, but I'm – this probably sounds strange to you, but I'm more aware of the things my senses are telling me now."

"It doesn't sound strange to me. You told me you had no concept of pleasure, other than from memories. If your perceptions were blocked in some way –" He hesitated. "Because it sounded as if you meant more than just sexual pleasure was affected."

"Well, mainly that, but other things as well. It was like – like experiencing everything from a great distance." She decided to share her most recent discovery with him. "When you kissed me earlier, I realised that oral lubrication fluid has a taste of its own, as sweet and sharp as the finest high-grade, though not the same at all. I hadn't remembered that, though it must always have been that way. Yet as far as I know my memories haven't been tampered with."

"Hmm. It does sound odd. Perhaps Hook can shed some light on the matter. And talking of energon –" He got up and went to the cupboard where he kept his private store.

Out of the corner of his optic, Megatron saw Dreamtime watching as he poured two glasses of high-grade. He stowed the bottle away, returned with both glasses, and handed her one. "To the future!" He raised his own glass and drank deeply.

"To the future," Dreamtime echoed, "whatever it may hold." As she sipped, she reflected on the events that had made such a change in her life. _Everything feels different,_ she thought. _I feel truly alive again, and it's such a strange feeling. _Without intending to, she pressed closer to Megatron. _Without him I wouldn't be feeling anything at all. But I do, every time I look at him. _"You know, this has been the strangest solar cycle."

"I know."

Dreamtime searched his face as he spoke. He was usually so sure of himself, this older Megatron, far more so than when she'd first known him so many vorns ago. But here he was, reminding her so much of the mech he'd been then: physically powerful, obviously commanding the respect of first his fellow gladiators, and later, his forces – yet sometimes out of his depth emotionally. Now the tables were well and truly turned. While she'd been a virtual prisoner, deactivated for long periods at a time to conserve power, he'd been gaining in experience in every aspect of his existence. No longer the energon-miner-turned-gladiator, he had literally changed himself into the conqueror he'd dreamed of being then.

And she suspected he intended to change her into what he wanted – what suited his own needs.

*

Just after midnight, Earth time, there was a slight scraping noise outside the holding cell, and Starscream immediately jerked back online. Unconsciously, he realised, he'd been waiting for this. He shook Chromia's shoulder. [Chromia, wake up! Sounds like your friends might have come for you.]

She sat up and listened intently.

Silence.

Then an area of the metal skin of the cell wall began to glow, and the noise began again. "They're cutting," he whispered. "You'll be able to go home soon."

"What about you?"

"Like I said before, I'll manage."

Then Starscream remembered his promise to see that Chromia got home safely, and that someone, if not Megatron himself, would be watching them from the control room. He released Chromia, stood up, raised his arm and fired his null ray at the camera. [That'll put _that_ out of action for a while!]

"I guess that's how you put our surveillance cameras out of commission back at the Ark," Chromia suggested with a rueful grin, standing up.

"Uh, yeah...Sorry about that," Starscream mumbled, noticing that the circular line of hot metal had almost joined up.

"I suppose we'd all got used to you not being able to move around without help while you were waiting for repairs. We should have disabled your null rays," she said. "After all, it wasn't as if they were affected by the inhibitor wristband."

"No," was all he said.

With a clang the line of hot metal became a hole in the wall, and water surged in, along with Optimus Prime and Ironhide.

"Sorry we're a bit late," Optimus said to Chromia. "We needed some repairs after the last encounter."

"Chromia, darlin', are you all right?" Ironhide asked, totally ignoring Starscream. The water was already up to their knees.

"I'm fine." Chromia indicated Starscream. "But _he_ needs repairs, and he's not going to get them here."

"So?" growled Ironhide. The water level was approaching his waist. "Don't be too generous towards that number two varmint, Optimus! We should kill him now while he can't defend himself."

Optimus looked shocked. "Ironhide!"

"Who says I can't defend myself?" Starscream asked.

Ironhide ignored him. "If it was the other way round that's what he'd do to us!"

"Ironhide, he _saved_ Chromia from serious injury back at Clerith Point," Optimus pointed out.

"He got her captured by Megatron! Anyway – he's itching to get his greasy servos all over her – probably already has!"

"No, no, you don't understand!" Chromia said, putting her hand on Ironhide's shoulder. "Starscream was a perfect gentlemech –"

"You expect me to believe that? He is a Decepticon, after all."

"Yes, I _know_ he's a Decepticon! I know he lies, cheats and has killed lots of our friends!" Chromia thumped the water with her fist in frustration, and a wave rippled around the cell, only collapsing as it met the incoming flood. "But he took a beating from Megatron for trying to protect me. He saved me from being gang-raped. He helped to get me repaired. I _owe_ him. Please, Optimus! Help him."

Water was still pouring through the hole in the bulkhead. It was up to their chests now. Starscream could see the Autobot leader was under pressure to make a swift decision.

"I guess we could do that," Optimus agreed, "under the circumstances."

"We'll need to leave quickly, then," Starscream said. "The CCTV will be back online soon."

"The water will short it out again when it gets that high," Ironhide rumbled, just loud enough for Starscream to hear him.

"Then we'd better go now," Optimus said, just as the water covered him completely. He beckoned to Starscream.

_I can put up with Ironhide's attitude towards me if that's what it'll take to get repaired,_ Starscream decided, and followed the others out of the holding cell.

*

Starscream heaved himself out of Optimus Prime's trailer section and stood upright. He'd avoided being lifted out by the robot arm, knowing he'd feel humiliated. Last time he'd been disoriented and barely conscious, so it couldn't be helped. This time he was walking wounded.

Humiliation came perilously close when Wheeljack slipped the transformation-inhibitor bracelet back on his wrist. But because Optimus had been so gracious towards him, he didn't protest.

"Back again, Starscream?" Ratchet stood regarding him, a quizzical smile curving his mouth.

"He can't keep away," Ironhide growled, throwing a sidewise glance at Chromia.

"That's enough," Optimus put in. "He's all yours, Ratchet. See if you can persuade him not to get himself busted up again this time, though!"

"You'd better lie down here, Starscream." Ratchet waved a servo at his operating table.

Starscream clambered onto the table, wondering if he should ask Ratchet about his most intimate injury.

Ratchet began an assessment of his damage. "Broken wing, bent wingtips, scratched and badly dented shoulder and leg. Anywhere else it hurts? Anything internal?"

"My leg here – the left one. My armour plating's torn, and the cydraulic cable inside got wrenched." Starscream indicated the injury, then allowed a sigh to escape his intakes. "I'm dented and scratched all over as well. Courtesy of Megatron."

"I can bang out the dents and touch up your paint job if you wish."

"Uh...Ratchet?" Starscream was conscious that he had an audience of Autobots who were watching him with some curiosity.

"What?"

"Could I speak privately to you?"

"Eh?" Ratchet looked to be having some difficulty containing his surprise. "About what?"

"Er – private stuff."

"We could go into my storeroom to talk, I suppose."

"If possible."

Starscream followed Ratchet into a room off the main control room, closing the door behind him.

"It's that private?"

"Definitely. I – I wouldn't ask you but it's really painful and I don't think Thundercracker or Skywarp would know how to fix it for me. I'd feel stupid asking Hook." _Apart from which, I _really_ don't want to ask any of them in case it gets back to Megatron, which it probably would if I asked Hook to repair it._

"What is it?"

Starscream stared at the ground while he explained. _I've never felt so embarrassed before,_ he thought, and knew it was partly because Ratchet was an Autobot.

But the medic was so matter-of-fact about it that his embarrassment soon dissipated.

"I'll need to have a look in order to decide what to do about it." Ratchet gestured towards a table in the corner. "Sit up there."

Starscream did so. When he realised he couldn't slide his crotch plate open, he clicked the activator stud as he'd seen Wheeljack do earlier and slipped the inhibitor wristband off.

"Hmm." Ratchet grinned. "Don't get a lot of call for repairs to these! I'll need to remove the tip to do the repair and then put it back later. It looks like it just unscrews. Would that be all right?"

Starscream nodded. "It's terribly painful –" He cast another glance at the bent and dented tip, and winced.

"It's a sensitive area, and it must have been awful for you if you hurt it while it was readied for data exchange, even if that was never going to happen. Hold tight!"

"Rrrrrgh!" Starscream wasn't ready for the pain that flooded his circuits as Ratchet gripped the damaged unit and began to unscrew it. But once the electrical contacts were disconnected, all sensation went from the area, and he was also unprepared for that. _So this is how those girls felt! _Aloud he said, "Well, at least it doesn't hurt there now – but it's a bit unnerving not to be able to feel _anything!_"

"Leave this with me," Ratchet said. "For the sake of appearances I think we'd better go back outside – I'll get Wheeljack over to help while I work on this in here."

He supported Starscream outside and helped him back onto the operating table before summoning Wheeljack over. Then he disappeared back into the storeroom.

Wheeljack greeted him with a cheerful, "Hello, Starscream," and added, "That was brave of you to try to save Chromia like that."

"Crazy, more like!" Starscream retorted.

"There is that! Well, let's have a look at this wing of yours." Wheeljack got Starscream to lie on his front so that he could see the wing properly, and began a detailed examination of it. "It's fractured right through the double skin. I take it you can't fly at present?"

Starscream shook his head.

"Okay, I'm going to weld it for you. Do you need a low-intensity EMP for the pain?"

"Don't have it at our base," Starscream grunted. "I can cope."

Wheeljack didn't speak as he worked, except to ask Starscream to change position. He'd nearly finished when Starscream started to wonder whether Ratchet had been able to repair his data exchange terminal; not that he expected to use it again for a while, if ever, but at least he'd be pain-free with regard to that –

"– Come with me, Starscream?"

He looked up at Ratchet. "What?"

"D'you want to come with me? Looks like Wheeljack's just about finished on your wing."

"Oh." It was hard to say the words to an enemy, but at last Starscream managed, "Thanks, Wheeljack." He stood up, tried an experimental transformation, and realised he'd forgotten that he wore the inhibitor wristband once more. "Never mind, I'll try later," he murmured, following Ratchet back into the storeroom and climbing onto the table. Mindful of his recent failure to transform he removed the band once again and set it beside him. "I could have done with Wheeljack's wristband when Chromia and I were in the holding cell together. But I'll skip the simulated sex in future, I think!" Starscream closed his crotch plate.

"That's probably wise," Ratchet chuckled, "because it's obvious that the damage occurred because the sex _was_ simulated and not real."

"Holding cell –? Simulated sex?" a voice growled from near the doorway. "So Chromia _was_ telling me the truth about that?"

"She wouldn't lie," Starscream said. He remembered he'd said exactly the same thing to Megatron. "Especially not to you. You should trust her more."

"It's not _her_ I don't trust – it's you!" Ironhide retorted. He stood with his arms folded across his chest, clearly in a belligerent mood. "I know you fancy her, and I can't see you passing up an opportunity –"

"Oh, _please!_" Starscream protested. "Your jealousy is so pathetic! I'd hardly have tried to save her from injury if I was going to rape her at Megatron's behest." He stood up and stalked over to Ironhide. "Chromia isn't even interested in me. She loves you, and won't consider anyone else, no matter what their feelings for her. You're so lucky –" He tapped Ironhide's chest with his forefinger. "And you know what? You don't appreciate her love."

"And you do?"

"I would if I had it! Why are you here?"

"I have a message for Ratchet from Prime, and it's not for your audios."

"Then you'd better stand aside and let me pass so that I can be repaired and go home."

Ironhide did. He looked totally bemused at the outburst.

Starscream marched outside and climbed back onto the operating table for Wheeljack to finish his repairs. But to his surprise, only astroseconds later Ratchet replaced Wheeljack beside the operating table. "You were my patient in the first place." He began to work on Starscream's damaged cydraulic cable. Because he wasn't restricted to the horizontal position Starscream supported himself on one elbow and watched. Ratchet worked methodically, wasting no time. He was as good as his word and even did the repainting he'd suggested earlier.

Eventually he asked, "Er – does Chromia know about your – other injury?"

"No. Please don't tell her." Starscream squashed down his embarrassment at the thought, wishing Ironhide hadn't walked in on them at that astrosecond.

Ratchet looked hurt. "I'm a healer. I wouldn't break patient confidentiality, whatever the affiliation. Especially about something like that."

"It's a private thing that she doesn't need to know." He could just imagine the mockery if his mishap became public knowledge, especially if it got back to Megatron. Another thought occurred to Starscream. "I'll personally turn Ironhide into slag if he lets on to _anyone_ – including Chromia."

"I'll see he doesn't. For his own sake."

When Ratchet had finished everything, Starscream had to admit that he felt much better, apart from the knowledge that he was going to have to return to the _Nemesis_, and wouldn't see Chromia again. That was like a huge black cloud hanging over him. "Right, you're done!" Ratchet straightened, then leaned closer and added quietly, "I can't do anything much about your feelings for Chromia – they'll have to pass on their own, although a low-intensity EMP might help –"

"Kind of you to offer," Starscream interrupted, raising his hands palms out, "but it didn't exactly work on me last time, did it? Anyway, I've only done one unselfish thing recently, and I want to remember that. It's a bit of a milestone."

Ratchet chuckled. "I guess it is."

Starscream handed the transformation-inhibiting bracelet to him. "Give this back to Wheeljack for me."

Ratchet nodded. "I will. You off now?"

He inclined his head, made as if to speak, then hesitated, feeling awkward. Finally he said, "Thanks, Ratchet." He got up and crossed the control room, heading for the exit.

"Are you going back to your base now?"

Starscream whirled.

The Autobot leader was standing a few paces to his left.

_How does he _do_ that? One __klick__ he's not there, the next he is. _"Of course." Starscream decided not to point out that he didn't really have a choice.

"You'll probably get beaten up again, you know," Optimus said. "Megatron won't be pleased when you turn up, repaired and with a nice new paint job, having left without permission."

Starscream nodded. "I know. Though I'm hoping he'll be so taken up with finding his old flame that he won't notice."

"Not much chance of that!" Optimus replied. "He's more observant than that." He hesitated before adding, "You could just stay here."

Starscream didn't even consider the idea. He knew that Ironhide's attitude towards him and his feelings for Chromia would make his position there intolerable. Added to which, there would undoubtedly be conditions attached. Unpleasant ones. So he just shook his head again and replied, "Goodbye, Optimus. And – thanks," though that also took some effort.

"Goodbye, Starscream."

He'd almost reached the exit corridor when Chromia raced up to his side, transforming to robot mode as she reached him. "Goodbye, Starscream. I'm glad I got to know a different side of you."

"Me too." He could hardly look at her; his emotions overwhelmed him. It felt as if he'd never see her again. He probably wouldn't. "G-goodbye, Chromia."

With a wave she transformed back into vehicle mode, turned and headed back towards the laboratory.

He stood watching her recede into the distance, and when she'd disappeared from view he leapt into the air and transformed. _Why couldn't she just let me leave? It's not like she cares for me. _He flew down the exit corridor, out into the sunshine, and circled once over the _Ark_ before heading for home.


	10. Chapter 10: Parley

Undercover

Cleargold

**Chapter 10: Parley**

_A/N: Groon: hour. Deca-cycle: Approximately three weeks. _

_Transformation cogs: I was wondering about this for a long time, but decided to include it as part of the story when I found out that all Transformers have one. I thought I'd better include a note to this effect when I was reading up on something and came across a thread which made it clear that a lot of fans think that only the city-sized Transformers have them._

_Rated M for adult themes._

_To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so._

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own the OCs in this story._

_Acknowledgements: As ever, many thanks to Mirage Shinkiro and Mdnytryder for betaing for me and to Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud. _

*

"Starscream to Base. Permission to enter."

"Permission denied, Starscream." Megatron made his tone distinctly chilly.

"_What?"_ Starscream must have expected this kind of reception, but he sounded indignant. _"What for?"_

"You go off with the Autobots for repairs I expressly forbade, and expect to be welcomed back?" _He's too useful to me to seriously think of keeping him out, but it won't hurt to make the point._ "You are seriously delusional, Starscream."

There was a pause that suggested Starscream was struggling for words. Then he said, "Just remember that without me you wouldn't have either the pleasure programme or data exchange terminal plans, or the cogs...and I don't think your data capture kit would have gottenall three!"

"True..." After a short hesitation, intended to make Starscream think he was considering his options, Megatron fingerstabbed the switch, and the tower broke the waters, its entrance opening. "Very well, Starscream. You may enter. Report to me in the control room."

The tower's CCTV showed Starscream slipping inside, presumably hoping to get in before Megatron could change his mind. But when his Air Commander failed to arrive and he spotted him slipping along the corridor which led to his quarters, Megatron decided it was time to send a private digital channel communication. _He won't be expecting that._ [Starscream. Report to me in the control room immediately.]

It was almost two breems later when Starscream finally arrived, and there was a faint, sweet scent of energon about him. But he stood in the familiar insolent stance, legs apart and head slightly outthrust, chin tilted provocatively up so that he could survey the room from the superior position, hands loosely linked behind his back in a parody of the "at ease" position.

Megatron felt the ire rise in him, but squashed it down to retain the advantage. "Ah, Starscream," he murmured, a sardonic tinge to his voice. "I trust you're fully fit, courtesy of the Autobots' talented medic?" He suspected Starscream hadn't thought his plan through beyond getting himself fixed up, because instead of giving one of his smart answers, he just dipped his head in apparent acknowledgement. _And he's probably too proud to admit that I hurt him when I beat him up in the first place._

He crossed round behind Starscream as if inspecting his troops. "Attention!" Starscream jerked upright by reflex, hands rigid at his sides.

Megatron grabbed Starscream's wrists. He yanked hard and pinned them behind the Seeker's waist. Then he jabbed his knee into the sensitive place where his wings joined his body.

"Aaargh!" Starscream yelled.

Over the vorns Megatron had learned the vulnerable points of each of his lieutenants; Starscream was no exception. He knew just where to hurt him to keep him under control. "How _dare_ you disobey me?" he hissed through his teeth. "You're lucky – I need you functional for your next mission. If it weren't for that I'd strip you to your wiring and flog you with an electric lash." He gave Starscream's wrists a shake. "Do." Shake. "You." Shake. "Understand?"

"Y-yes..."

"Good. Then your initial task is to fix up the mess in the holding cell, and when you've finished that, you can continue with your teaching duties. Alone. Thundercracker, Skywarp and Astrotrain will be assigned elsewhere during the daytime." Megatron released Starscream with a shove which tumbled him to the floor. "All leisure time is cancelled for the next deca-cycle, by the way. You'll report for regular twilight shifts in here as well as your shooting instruction duties."

*

It was the middle of the Earth night by the time Starscream had finished repairing the holding cell bulkhead and pumping out the water; too late for his teaching duties. He returned the equipment he'd been using to the stores and wandered down the corridor to the quarters shared by the four femmes, rubbing each sore shoulder in turn.

A knock at the door brought no answer. _Probably with their partners for the night._ Starscream suppressed his envy and checked his internal chronometer. He'd need to be up early to fit two shifts in, which only left him with a few groons for recharge. He left a message for the girls on the door intercom before making a booking for shooting practise.

Back in his quarters, the temptation to contact Chromia via the digital channel they'd used became overpowering. But he knew he should avoid that; the best thing for both of them would be never to meet or have any contact, at least until he no longer had inappropriate feelings for her. She was probably recharging, anyway.

He sank onto his berth and got into the most comfortable position he could find, then quickly shut down so that he didn't have to think about her. But his recharge was disturbed by dreams of Chromia; yet in the morning, all he could remember of them was the vision of her face before him and the impression of a terrible danger.

The femmes always had daytime training sessions. Starscream stretched, gulped down his energon ration and hurried to the shooting gallery in the leisure complex. A number of Decepticons were there, including Blitzwing and a couple of the Stunticons, but there was no sign of the femmes. As he waited for them to arrive, Starscream watched the others competing for the highest scores. When they noticed him, some of them beckoned him over and invited him to join in, but Starscream hung back, explaining that he was waiting for his apprentices.

"You mean the femmes, don't you?" Wildrider grinned.

"Where's your Autobot _girlfriend_?" asked Drag Strip, malice mingling with curiosity in his expression.

"Gone home," Starscream mumbled, feeling a shock tear through him. He'd hoped that keeping quiet about his feelings would simply make them go away eventually. He hadn't banked on Megatron's exposé, and in the _Nemesis_, rumours travelled at lightspeed. Megatron had humiliated him many times, but never over a femme before. Even when Starscream had humbled himself in the past it had always been for an acceptable reason – like survival – but he could discern no such motivation for Megatron's action. _It's just spite, because he thinks I betrayed the Decepticon cause by falling for an Autobot femme. But if _he_ hadn't left me on the battlefield, _I_ wouldn't be in this position now!_

Resentment boiled over inside him. He raised his arm. Sighted his null ray cannon on Drag Strip. The Stunticon must have realised what was about to happen because he scrambled backwards to get out of the way. Starscream followed his movements and fired.

Drag Strip crashed immobile to the ground.

"And she's _not_ my girlfriend," Starscream threw over his shoulder as he walked away. He could feel the others staring at him.

"Hi, Starscream!"

He turned.

"Oh, you're all fixed up." It was Dreamtime, followed by her friends. They crowded about him, stroking the edges of his wings, touching his arms.

"Hello, girls." The attention was balm to his wounded dignity and spirit. In the past he would have accepted their attentions as his due, enjoying and taking pride in it. The realisation made him aware of just how much his involvement with Chromia had changed him; now their attention calmed his battered emotions.

"Did you just say Chromia's gone home?" Tendertouch asked.

He nodded, unable to speak.

"Ouch! Sorry, Starscream," she continued. "But we liked her. She was kind to us. She helped us all a lot."

"I – know." Starscream thought they seemed genuinely sad that Chromia was no longer there. Strangely, that also soothed him, as if it gave his own sorrow and sense of loss legitimacy. "Let's do some shooting, girls."

Blitzwing approached them. "How about us against them?" he suggested.

_Blitzwing wants to make sure I don't shoot him too_, Starscream thought. "Perhaps later," he returned curtly. "We've some revision to do first." He turned back to the four femmes. "I want to see how much each of you remembered before we continue, and once we've worked on today's battle tactics topic I'll check out how much you've learned near the end of the day. If you want to compete against them after that," he jerked a thumb towards Blitzwing and the others, "we'll squeeze in a contest near the end."

"That might be fun," Hot Stuff murmured.

"I don't feel ready," Shadowkiss objected.

"Do you ever practise with your boyfriends?"

"Do we ever –? All the time, Starscream, but not shooting!" Tendertouch shuttered one optic in a slow, deliberate wink.

"I didn't mean –" Starscream began, then laughed. Her joke had put everything back in perspective. "Well, girls, at least you've got your sense of humour back! Let's do some shooting."

"Where are your assistants?" Shadowkiss asked. Her tremulous little smile betrayed her nervousness.

"On daytime shift," Starscream said. "It's just you four and me today."

Several groons and a large chunk of battle theory later, Blitzwing came over to watch them. The Stunticons followed him, even Drag Strip. All the femmes had improved their aim now, and their reflexes were starting to be very good as well.

"Not bad at all!" Blitzwing commented.

"We have a good teacher," Shadowkiss smiled.

"I came to ask if you wanted that competition." Blitzwing was looking hopeful.

"Depends what you think you'll get out of it," Starscream grinned back. "And what _they're_ going to get out of it."

"How about this: if they win, they get a rematch. If we win, I get a kiss from each of them."

It was evident that, like the news of his crush on Chromia, gossip about the girls had spread like wildfire among the Decepticons. They might find it hard to live that down in the future. It seemed the Stunticons, at least, already regarded them learning to shoot as something of a joke.

"We _all_ get a kiss from each of them," Wildrider added, grinning.

Starscream snorted with laughter. "D'you really want to take on Megatron, Skywarp, Thundercracker and Astrotrain? Possibly all at the same time?"

"What, no confidence in your training methods?" jeered Drag Strip. "Don't you think they'll win?"

Starscream realised Drag Strip had learned precisely nothing from his demonstration of power that morning. _Fragging lunatic._ But he kept his tone mild as he said, "Well, we'll see. I'll keep the scores. Let's shoot, girls!"

The femmes shot well. They were only outgunned by the battle-hardened Stunticons and Blitzwing by a small margin – mostly thanks to Drag Strip's efforts.

"We claim those kisses," Blitzwing said. His grin was triumphant. "C'mon guys – let's collect!"

"On your head be it," Starscream sighed in mock resignation.

*

Megatron onlined with the realisation that the pressure he could feel behind him on the berth was Dreamtime, her arm bent about his middle. He twisted onto his opposite side so he could face her and raised a hand to touch her face. Her expression held a serenity that he hadn't seen before, and his own mouth curved in an unconscious response. He lay watching her until she stirred, stretched and made optic contact with him.

"How are things today?" she asked.

"Pretty good," Megatron grinned, "and even better if we can remove Stomp and free Kaon from his grip."

"Then let's do it!" Dreamtime said, and rolled off the berth into a standing position.

"You're different today," Megatron said. "More positive."

"I _feel_ different, since the sex the last few nights. That was so good –

very beneficial for me."

"Me too." He swung himself upright. "I'm going to call a meeting with my Air Invasion Force."

"What time is it? You don't want to call them too early if they've had a night like we did last night!"

"True." Megatron watched Dreamtime, realising she was the first stabilising influence he'd ever really had. He shrugged. "We'll give them another four breems, then." He strode over to the cupboard where he kept his private supply of energon, brought out a bottle and two glasses, and filled them. "Here you are." He handed a glass to her, settled into the chair before his computer and took a long pull at the liquid.

"Of course, if you call Starscream you can get _him_ to contact them."

He glanced at Dreamtime, savouring her slow smile. Her suggestion was sensible. _Starscream will be on his own and is probably already up and about._ He crossed to the intercom. "Megatron to Starscream. Megatron to Starscream. Respond. Over."

"Hhhhh. Starscream to Megatron. Over."

Megatron ignored the sigh and told him what he wanted.

"What's the plan, Megatron? Are we retaking Kaon?"

"Of course. You didn't think I wasn't going to take Stomp out of the equation, did you?"

"I never thought otherwise for an astrosecond, Megatron."

Megatron ignored the sarcasm. "Then arrange this meeting for me. Out." He jabbed the off switch and turned back to Dreamtime. "I think we've got time –"

She came into his arms without prompting, and he lifted her onto the end of the berth.

*

A groon later, Megatron stood before the Decepticons in his meeting room. Dreamtime and her friends sat at a table in a corner, and Starscream and the other Seekers stood behind them, together with Astrotrain and Blitzwing.

"Decepticons!" Megatron surveyed the room. He nodded in satisfaction. Every Decepticon in the base was crowded into the room. "I've called you together here to tell you what's going to happen over the next few solar cycles." Megatron indicated Dreamtime, Shadowkiss, Tendertouch and Hotstuff. "Some of you have been somewhat envious of myself and some of my colleagues here, following the successful mission to Cybertron to collect some femmes. There has been speculation that I would build some. Until now that hasn't really been a possibility, or my intention, but recent events have provided all the data to do that. Work will be commencing immediately." Megatron paused and looked around the room. "If you wish to register a request for one, see Soundwave at the end of the meeting."

"But Mighty Megatron, how will you get personalities for the femmes?" asked Starscream in a sly tone.

Megatron interpreted Starscream's question as another attempt to undermine him publicly. But he gave no sign of this as he replied, "In the usual way. Optimus Prime has shown that he's not averse to making temporary truce, and we have something he'll need for his femmes. The other reason for this meeting is that we need to retake Kaon and stop the criminal Stomp from what he's doing to femmes living there, and possibly in other places on Cybertron. My plan is to combine the two objectives."

"Do you have any _detailed_ plans yet?"Starscream persisted.

"Yes. You and your trine will infiltrate Stomp's organisation and find out the extent of its infrastructure. His weaknesses too. We'll need to know whether he's planning to expand his influence, and where. In the meantime, we'll be building the femmes requested in Wave One, and preparing for battle, although I should emphasise that the plans are somewhat fluid at this stage."

Megatron looked around the room as his warriors let out cheers and whoops at the news. Even Starscream's expression had brightened, and everyone, except Thundercracker and Skywarp, seemed in high spirits about the forthcoming battle – and presumably the prospect of more femmes.

"Hey, Astrotrain!" Skywarp exclaimed, "How come you get to stay with your lady?"

"Dunno. Maybe I'm Megatron's favourite –"

"I need him and Blitzwing here for other reasons," Megatron said, before Astrotrain could finish speaking. He caught Starscream's optic as he added, "Now that we have some femmes here, we're in a better position to build some new ones of our own. We can use their vital statistics to design our new – er – population. Soundwave?"

"Yes, Megatron."

"Take the registrations. I have a call to make."

*

Chromia looked around the control room of the Ark. All the off-duty Autobots were there, crowded into every available space. She looked back at Optimus and listened hard as he began to speak.

"Autobots, I've called you here this morning to discuss Chromia's intelligence, gained during her imprisonment along with Starscream at Decepticon HQ." Optimus summarised for the Autobots what Chromia had told him during her debriefing. "And Project Aurora has reached the stage where it has two problems: we need to return to Cybertron to acquire personalities for our new femmes, and without getting entangled with the Decepticons. We knew we'd reach this point eventually, though we weren't quite sure when. However, despite the distractions we've had, we have managed to keep fairly well to schedule."

"Optimus, there's a call for you." Prowl appeared puzzled.

"Who is it?"

"Megatron."

"_What?"_ Optimus's brow-ridges lifted until they met in a right angle. "What does _he_ want?"

"He won't tell me...but he says it's urgent."

Optimus looked as puzzled as Prowl did, but excused himself from the meeting. "Put him onscreen."

Prowl complied.

Megatron's image filled the screen of Teletraan 1. His smile held mockery and a certain satisfaction. "Optimus Prime!" He said it as if he were welcoming an old friend.

"Megatron," Optimus acknowledged, rather more coolly.

Chromia wondered if he was glad of the concealment his battle mask offered for his emotions.

"Do I gather you wish to return to Cybertron shortly, to acquire personalities for your new femmes, Optimus?"

"Hmm. I suppose Starscream was the source of that information...Why are you calling, Megatron?"

"No need for suspicion. I thought I'd propose a deal between us, one that would be of mutual benefit."

Optimus tapped his battle mask with a finger as he considered the onscreen image of the Decepticon leader. "What had you in mind?"

Megatron paused, as if gathering his thoughts, before replying. "This is the situation. One: you will soon require transport to Cybertron for a large number of Transformers, and I have access to the space bridge. Two: we will soon have our own group of femmes requiring personalities, so we have the same problem. Three: last time we were both there the defences of Vector Sigma took some defeating, for both our sides. Four: an upstart criminal has taken over some of my turf, and in the process abused the femmes Starscream and his wingmates brought back to Earth to keep us company. Five: If our new femmes – or yours, come to that – return to Cybertron, with Stomp still wielding the power on the ground around Kaon, none of them will be safe. Shockwave has found indications that he may have already expanded beyond just Kaon. Six: We intend to take him out for various reasons, including that. Seven: You were lucky enough to recruit to your ranks the excellent medic Ratchet."

There was dead silence in the Ark's control room.

"So," Megatron continued, "seeing as it would benefit both sides, why not work together in this instance? We trade you the use of the space bridge and safe passage to Vector Sigma and back for your new – er – _recruits_, and you help us in acquiring personalities for ours, and in making Cybertron safer for _all_ femmes. I'm sure Chromia has told you about Stomp and our berth-mates, and I've sent my top Seekers to Kaon on an intelligence-gathering mission – they've just left. But I also have a special request: that Ratchet help us restore the personalities of our existing femmes."

Optimus was silent. After many astroseconds he said, "I'll need to consider this, though it's quite an attractive offer. We're having a meeting at present –"

"Likewise."

"– so I can let you know my decision in about a groon."

"Fine. I'll expect your call then." Megatron's face vanished from the screen.

Optimus played the controls and was rewarded with a map of Cybertron.

"This is Iacon, where Vector Sigma is situated." He pointed. "This is Kaon, the location of the space bridge terminus on Cybertron, and where Stomp is apparently based. I presume that's where Megatron will engage Stomp. There's half the planetary diameter between them, and in order to fight on both fronts Megatron will have to split his forces. So would we. I'm not sure how practical that would be." He paced, considering.

"Optimus, I don't like this deal," Prowl said. "Megatron's offered us the use of the space bridge and safe passage, but he's asking for a lot in return."

"Yes, I noticed that," Optimus said. "But supposing the Decepticons left the acquisition of personalities for _all_ the femmes to us, perhaps with a few Decepticon observers present. After all, we're better-placed to deal with that than they are, and if they want to retake Kaon, that's not a military objective for us." Optimus had known his predecessor, Sentinel Prime, when they had been stationed in Kaon, Chromia remembered; he knew exactly why the Autobots had retreated from the polar state.

"Yes, why should we get involved, and possibly hurt or killed, in their fight against Stomp?" Ironhide sounded indignant. "He's likely just a criminal. That's Megatron's problem."

Optimus held up his hand. "I'm not so sure that it's _just_ his problem. Supposing our Project Aurora femmes are on Cybertron for any length of time. We want them to be safe while they're there, and from what Chromia told me, no femme is safe from Stomp if he gets hold of them."

"But why should we get ourselves injured in _their_ fight?" asked Jazz.

"I can see you all have strong feelings about this," Optimus said, looking around the room. "So I propose a different arrangement for this part of Megatron's plan as well: that we send a few token intelligence operatives to help them scope out the limits of Stomp's crime empire, and leave it at that. With those two amendments we acquire a possible advantage in that we might be able to control the personality types of the new Decepticon females as well as our Project Aurora females, and we avoid getting involved in a fight that isn't, outwardly at least, ours."

An idea had been forming in Chromia's processor while Optimus had been speaking. She stood up. "Can I just say, Optimus, that I passionately embrace the cause of Cybertronian feminism, having seen what those poor femmes have suffered, and I will be proud to fight Stomp in whatever way I can."

Optimus Prime's optics widened as he regarded her in surprise. "Cybertronian feminism?"

Chromia explained about the human TV programme she'd watched on the Suffragettes. It seemed vorns ago now. "I realised that a similar situation has arisen on Cybertron as a result of the way Stomp treated the girls in his brothel, and it seems to me that to treat sex workers in that fashion is almost worse than if they'd been just ordinary femmes. I was appalled when I found out what they'd been through."

"It must be pretty awful being the _berth-mate_ of a Decepticon, too!" Ironhide muttered beside her.

She turned, half addressing the meeting, half replying to him. "They don't see it that way. They're just glad that they have partners who want to help them get back to normal, Decepticon or not. And I'm not so sure they even know the difference – they've been pretty much prisoners, working inside the brothel throughout the war. But it has dented their confidence severely, and I'd like to help in any way I can."

"Maybe the reason the Decepticons are prepared to help them is that sex with a femme without a pleasure programme or data exchange terminal is less than satisfying," Ironhide insisted. "You can't surely be suggesting that Megatron and his ilk have genuine feelings for these femmes?"

"Let's put it like this," Chromia told him crisply, "every Cybertronian has the capacity for emotions. So I don't for one minute think they couldn't, though I _am_ sure they wouldn't like it get out! I was there, remember? Even Megatron – he might not say so in so many words, but I'm certain he took me prisoner because he wanted to help Dreamtime."

"But you said these femmes are prostitutes."

"So? They're still femmes, and they have feelings for their respective boyfriends. Just because a femme is a prostitute, it doesn't mean a male can't have feelings for her, or she for him. And _I_ know what it's like to love someone and not be able to spend time with them." Chromia could hear her voice getting a little louder and more forceful as she spoke. "Irrespective of any of that, I'm strongly committed to Project Aurora."

Optimus held up his hand for quiet. "Let's keep personalities out of this. Chromia, you're obviously fervent about the feminine cause – and I respect that. It was your passionate commitment to it that led you to come to Earth to help me with Project Aurora. So...what had you in mind?"

"Whatever he may say, I don't think any of us totally believe that Megatron will keep his word. As well as being prepared for that, perhaps we should go on the offensive, but in a way he won't detect." Chromia looked around the room. "He said he's sending Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp to Cybertron to gather intelligence about Stomp's activities. I think I could help them, and perhaps keep them distracted while you carry out your part of the plan, especially if you're trying to take the initiative from Megatron at Vector Sigma. At the same time I'll be able to get the same information they do about Stomp and his activities. Forewarned is forearmed, in case Megatron doesn't succeed in his part of the plan."

Ironhide was on his feet at once. His face resembled a terrestrial thundercloud. "I absolutely forbid it!"

Chromia faced him. "I thought you might say that."

Ironhide's face darkened further. "It might be flattering being courted by the mighty Starscream –"

"I'm not being _courted_ by him, Ironhide. He knows perfectly well what my feelings for you are, and isn't prepared to overstep any boundaries. But I could probably make his feelings for me work to our advantage." Chromia watched Ironhide's expression change from disbelief to distrust. "And Starscream isn't about to let either of his trinemates offer me any harm. He'll try to protect me, I'm sure."

"I wouldn't count on it too much," Optimus warned her. "Whatever he may _want_ to do, Megatron may not let him." He stood considering for a moment. "Still, your idea has some merit. What's your plan?"

Chromia explained her idea. "It's sure to bring Stomp out into the open, since Starscream and his cronies stole his girls –"

"You'd be the bait in a trap!" Ironhide snorted. He flung out a hand in appeal. "Optimus, you're surely not going to let her do this?"

"I'm going to at least consider it, without getting too emotional about it. Chromia's a competent field operative, and very capable of taking care of herself."

"But what if Stomp gets hold of her and hurts her? We'd be powerless to help, and would have to rely on Starscream. And whatever he might _want_ to do, the other Seekers might not wish, or be able, to back him up."

"The worst way he could hurt me would be by doing what he did to those girls," Chromia interjected. "Optimus, you already have copies of my pleasure programme and the blueprint for my data exchange terminal. In the worst-case scenario they can be replaced when I return."

A silence fell in the control room of the Ark. Eventually Ironhide broke it. "Rape was more the kind of thing I was concerned about."

"Starscream had the opportunity, and didn't take it," Chromia said. "In fact, he went to extraordinary lengths to avoid it – "

"I wasn't thinking of him, not this time – we've known him and the threat _he_ represents for a long time. But Stomp is an unknown quantity. Do we know if this _pimp _–" He spat the word out like a batch of bad energon. "– Made those girls sleep with him?"

"We could ask them. At least, _I_ could."

"How can you ask them something like that?" Ironhide stared at her. "Sorry, Chromia, but it just sounds like a crazy scheme to me, and a formula for disaster!"

"Yes, well just remember, Ironhide – you may be my boyfriend but you don't own me. I belong to me, and I choose to do something for the benefit of all  
Cybertronian femmes, including our own vulnerable new ones." Chromia expelled a sigh through her intakes. "We _can't_ leave Stomp loose on Cybertron. He's a danger to all femmes."

"Chromia's right," Optimus said. "Stomp is too dangerous to be left in charge of Kaon – or anywhere else on Cybertron. Our new femmes will be vulnerable when they come online, and I won't allow them to be abused by this – creature." He looked around at his warriors. "So are we agreed on these two points?"

"Agreed." Prowl hadn't given an opinion up till now.

"Sounds better to me than _his_ proposal," Jazz offered.

"Megatron probably knows he's asked for too much, and expects you to bargain with him over it." That was Ironhide's only further comment.

"Ratchet? What are your feelings about helping Megatron restore his original four females' personalities?"

"I don't have a problem with helping _them_. But I'm not keen to help Megatron. Anyway, couldn't Hook do that?"

"Who's going to build Megatron's new femmes?" Wheeljack asked.

"Probably...Hook," Optimus replied slowly. "And probably the other Constructicons."

Ratchet considered for a moment, then nodded. "I'd be prepared to try, Prime. My calling and oath dictate that I should. I'd like to know whether Hook has tried, and how much Megatron's managed, though – he's no mean programmer himself!"

"Indeed. Now, I might have to haggle a bit." Optimus walked back over to Teletraan 1 and played the controls until Megatron's image replaced the map of Cybertron onscreen.

"Optimus Prime. I didn't expect to speak to you so soon."

"The decision was easier than expected."

"And...what did you decide?"

Optimus told him the decision. He looked a little tense, Chromia thought. _He probably thinks Megatron'll argue with him._ Oddly enough, Megatron looked ill at ease as well. Chromia found herself wondering how much the Decepticon leader had really expected to get from Optimus. But there was no argument from the Decepticon leader. Optimus explained the concern the Autobots had over the threat to femmes from Stomp. "We're not interested in retaking Kaon, but we consider it important to see the criminal taken out for the safety of _all_ femmes, particularly the new ones."

After much discussion it was agreed that Optimus would lead a force of Autobots, plus a small cohort of Decepticons who would be under his command, to Vector Sigma to acquire personalities for the new females of each side. Meanwhile Megatron, the main Decepticon force and a token group of Autobots would deal with Stomp.

"Can I suggest that each of the smaller forces should consist of warriors from either side, with any female partners?" Optimus suggested.

Megatron was quick to catch on. "Excellent! It will to be a motivating factor for the forces of the opposite side to follow their respective commander."

"Exactly!"

Then Megatron added, "But two of the Seekers have female partners –"

"Won't the Seekers be joining you for the battle for Kaon?"

"Yes, probably, at the end, and their partners can be – will want to be assigned to Kaon, I'm sure."

_That figures,_ Chromia thought.

"Now, about your request for Ratchet's services –"

"I was hoping he could come here to work with me on restoring the personalities of Dreamtime, Tendertouch, Shadowkiss and Hotstuff," Megatron interrupted.

"He's willing to do that with immediate effect, but asks in return that the four of them contribute information about Stomp's – er - _business_ activities," Optimus said. "And as I have a volunteer here who is willing to work with your Seekers on intelligence-gathering –"

"The excellent Chromia, I'll bet," Megatron murmured. "Won't Starscream be surprised!"

Optimus acknowledged that with a little nod. "She has an idea as to how to draw Stomp out into the open, so it might be useful to get some background information for an authentic cover story for her."

"Good!" Megatron said. "I agree. Send Ratchet and Chromia to these co-ordinates to rendezvous with Astrotrain in one groon, and he'll bring them to our base –"

Ratchet stood up. "Just an astrosecond, Megatron. Why can't they come here? All my kit's here, and I'd have back-up from Wheeljack."

Megatron held up a hand, smiling a faint, knowing smile. "But I'm not sure that _I'd_ be welcome in the Ark, even if we are temporarily working together! And our femmes are used to being here, and I'd rather not uproot them at present." He gave the co-ordinates.

Chromia noted with some amusement and scepticism that they were nowhere near the location of the Decepticon base, which was well-known to all the Autobots, and even to some humans, as Ironhide had reported.

Sounding very satisfied, Megatron said, "We'll speak again later, then –"

"Not so fast, Megatron! Before I send Ratchet and Chromia, I need a guarantee of their safety, and of their safe conduct back here after they've finished working with your four femmes. What can you offer me?"

Megatron looked a little taken aback, Chromia thought, but he recovered himself quickly.

"I can guarantee Chromia and Ratchet's safety, and also provide a guarantee of Chromia's safety while she's working with Starscream and his trine. I will personally see to it that everyone knows that they're to be kept safe, as far as possible. If we can't complete the reprogramming by the time our new femmes are ready, Ratchet will be returned to the _Ark_. Chromia will be sent back to you once she's spoken with our femmes. But I can't guarantee her safety with Stomp."

"Understood," Optimus said with a nod. "And will Ratchet and Chromia be guests or hostages?"

"They'll be honoured guests," Megatron said. Then he grinned as craftily as a turbofox. "For this occasion only."

*

Megatron rapped on the medbay door.

"Come!" Hook barked.

Megatron stalked inside. On Hook's operating table, Shadowkiss lay with her chest compartment open and many components spread neatly out on an adjacent trolley. Her optics were fixed on a gleaming mechanism, however: her new transformation cog. Hook was beside the femme, removing another part. As it came free, Hook lifted it out and placed it on the trolley, arranging it so that all the elements formed an exploded view of the order in which they had to go back. The other three femmes stood waiting for her.

Megatron looked around the room. "Progress report?"

"It almost takes longer to replace one of them than to build a femme from scratch!" Hook straightened, wiping a wrist across his forehead. "Shadowkiss is the last to receive a new cog," he said.

"Excellent!" Megatron allowed his lips to curve in a fierce grin. "We'll have to arrange for them to acquire alt modes next."

He strode over to the terminal in the corner of the room and activated it. "Dreamtime, come here."

She obeyed him at once.

"I'm going to upload you a standard-issue Decepticon firewall, since I noticed you don't have one." He looked at each of the other femmes in turn. "Don't any of you have them? Is this something else that Stomp did to you?"

"He erased all of them," Dreamtime said, before the other femmes could answer. "He said we didn't need them any more."

"Well, you do again now. Open your programming port." Megatron slipped a connector in place in her port and pushed the other end of the cable into a port on the console. A list of programmes flashed up on the console's monitor. He scrolled down until he found what he wanted, and selected it. In a few astroseconds it had finished uploading and he was able to disconnect Dreamtime and repeat the process with Tendertouch and Hotstuff.

"I'll do that for Shadowkiss when I've finished this work on her, Megatron," Hook said. "I can fit it in before I start work on these femmes you want. Blitzwing and the other Constructicons are out collecting suitable materials, as requested."

"Excellent," Megatron said. "Astrotrain should be back here in two groons to collect the girls."

"Where are we going, Megatron?" Dreamtime asked.

"To acquire alt modes so that you blend in on the surface. You'll be continuing your training with me now that Starscream and his trine are on Cybertron. We'll practice transforming and I'll give you some hand-to-hand combat training."

"Are we going to be gladiators, like you were?" Hotstuff asked, her optics very wide.

"Now there's a thought – female gladiators!" Megatron raised a hand towards the femmes. "Actually, no. But very soon you'll need to know what I'm going to teach you."

"Why?" Tendertouch asked.

Megatron fought to quell his impatience. "You might find it useful when we take revenge on Stomp." He watched their expressions change from curiosity to animation.

Even Shadowkiss, in her partly-dismantled state, looked suddenly very interested. "Why didn't Starscream teach us fighting as well as shooting?"

"It's my speciality, remember?" Megatron exchanged a glance with Hook. "Go and relax, girls. Shadowkiss will join you as soon as Hook's finished working on her."

The three femmes left the room and Megatron crossed to stand beside Hook. "Any luck with trying to restore their factory settings, like Starscream suggested?"

Hook had one hand inside Shadowkiss's chest compartment whilst reaching for the cog on the trolley with the other, but he managed to shake his head. "They're tied up tight, all right. But it was worth a try."

Megatron acknowledged that with a curt little nod. Perhaps Ratchet would be able to come up with a workable idea.

*

The wind bit into the grass and trees at the rendezvous, whipping them towards the two Autobots standing beneath the trees as if bent on highlighting their location to the Decepticon they were to meet.

"Ouch!" Chromia swiped at a branch that had been trying to scratch her optic glass. The weak organic material broke under the combined effects of the blow and the wind, and she watched as the twigs were swept towards the valley below, where a human settlement nestled, straddling the river which cut through the valley floor. For once she hoped their contact would arrive soon; anything was better than standing here out in the open, attacked by the terrestrial elements.

Ratchet caught her arm. "Astrotrain's here."

The purple and grey space shuttle was approaching at high speed. He circled above them once, twice, perhaps looking for a suitable spot to land, then came down to rest on the hilltop above them. "Hurry up, Autobots," he called. "I hate this mudball worse than ever when it's windy or rainy. And I especially hate being sent out to collect Autobots."

_Has he ever had to do that before? _Chromia wondered, as she and Ratchet jogged up the hill. But it seemed that Astrotrain was being sincere when he said he disliked the weather on Earth, because he had his hatch wide open for them to enter, as if impatient to return to Decepticon HQ. They didn't waste any time. Ratchet climbed into Astrotrain's interior, followed by Chromia. The hatch clanged shut behind them.

Chromia wondered if she'd see Starscream at Decepticon HQ. Aloud, she asked Astrotrain if he'd been beaten up on his return as Optimus had predicted.

"Nah," Astrotrain said. His answer, and apparent willingness to talk to her, surprised Chromia. "He was only back two Earth days before our glorious leader despatched him and his trine to Cybertron. Couldn't send him busted up, now, could he? It'd have drawn too much attention on our home turf. Besides, he wouldn't be able to transform, and he needs to be able to do that right now. And it'd have taken too long for Hook to fix him up."

"And he didn't send _you_?" Chromia asked.

"Yes – I had to take them there!" Astrotrain said. He sounded indignant. "They give me all the slag jobs."

Chromia suppressed a smile. "Couldn't they have used the space bridge?"

"They needed to take some kit with them." He paused before muttering, "And Shockwave's a bit jealous of his precious space bridge. Doesn't like it used for anything that doesn't include energon shipments."

For the rest of the journey Astrotrain was silent, and before long they were inside the _Nemesis_ and marching beside him to the Control Room.

Megatron rose as they entered, and indicated the four femmes standing nearby. "Excellent. Astrotrain, conduct everyone to my meeting room. I'll be there shortly."

Astrotrain beckoned for them to follow him. Dreamtime, Shadowkiss, Tendertouch and Hotstuff crowded around Chromia as they walked.

"We wanted to talk to you again, but you'd left the base," Shadowkiss said.

"I've come back to talk to you now," Chromia said. _They're really innocent in a weird kind of way, despite their previous profession, _she thought. _Surely they haven't become fully-fledged Decepticons yet? _She surveyed their chassis and upper arms, the usual places for the symbol. _No sign of the Decepticon symbol. So far._

"Megatron said you were coming back." Dreamtime looked at Ratchet. "Are you the medic?"

"Yes, this is Ratchet." Chromia waved a hand at him. "Did Megatron tell you he was coming?"

"Yes."

"What did he say about me?" Ratchet asked.

"That you'd try to help us."

Astrotrain stood aside and indicated a door. "This is it. We have to wait here."

Shortly afterwards Megatron arrived, punched the code into the door and led them inside. Chromia glanced around the room. It must have been in the centre of the _Nemesis_, because there were no windows, and it was completely bare of anything to distract its occupants. There was a table at one side of the room, with a computer on it and seats around it. One was large and faced out into the room. The rest of the room was empty, but from its size it was obviously designed to accommodate all the Decepticons in the base.

Megatron went to the largest chair and sat down in it, beckoning to the others to seat themselves. He indicated that Ratchet should sit next to him on one side and Chromia on the other, with the four femmes on her other side. "Have you got any questions you want to ask the girls?" he asked Chromia.

"Lots."

"Remember you have to ask direct questions to get an answer. Ratchet, I think it would be best if you just listen to them to get an idea of how their reprogramming works."

Chromia turned to Dreamtime and her companions. "Tell me about Stomp."

"What d'you want to know?" Shadowkiss asked.

"Anything you can tell me about him. Where was the place where you worked?"

"The brothel? It's on the bottom level of Kaon. Stomp made us move there when he took over from Whiphand."

"And what was it like working there?" Chromia could already see how difficult this was going to be, and she was worried that she would miss something important because she wasn't knowledgeable enough to start with, and said so.

"You'll just have to use your imagination," Megatron suggested with a broad smile and a glint in his optic, before Shadowkiss could answer.

*

When Chromia and the femmes had left with Astrotrain, Ratchet turned to Megatron.

"Sorry, but I've got to ask this. I know it's private, but...have you seen what happened when Stomp reprogrammed them?" Ratchet asked, sure that Megatron would have accessed some, at least, of Dreamtime's memories.

"He put them offline for it," Megatron said, shaking his head. "My guess is that I saw what happened up to that point, and after, but not during the process. I can tell the difference between Dreamtime as she was then and is now, but not how she got there. It's one of the things that make it so hard to unravel this."

They'd been talking to the girls for groons, asking them questions and noting the answers, but none of the femmes had any idea what Stomp had really done to them, since they'd all been offline at the same time.

"I need to know how reliable they'd be in an emergency, bearing in mind how much damage they've suffered," Megatron pointed out. "Hook did a preliminary investigation. I asked him if it were possible to simply restore their factory settings, but he tried and said they couldn't be accessed."

"I'm beginning to get an idea," Ratchet said, "but we need some way of testing it before I can be sure of what he's done."

"What d'you think it could be?"

Ratchet clasped his arms behind his head and sat back in his chair for a few astroseconds, apparently considering his ideas, before looking into Megatron's crimson optics. "I think he's nested programmes inside one another to make them inaccessible. And some of them – well, he's just deleted them."

*

Chromia stepped out of Astrotrain's hatch, turned and waved to the four femmes, and immediately transformed and raced away from the landing site. She'd insisted on being dropped a few miles from the Ark, since the Decepticons had their own pretence.

Behind her she heard the roar of engines as Astrotrain lifted into the air again, then headed towards the city of Portland. Megatron, with Ratchet watching warily, had told him he'd be in several kinds of trouble if he offered Chromia any harm.

The highways in the immediate area around the Ark were becoming familiar to Chromia, although her work with Project Aurora had meant that she had little time to explore the Oregon countryside. Having been used to the metallic surroundings of Cybertron, the luxuriance of terrestrial organic growth had amazed and rather fazed her at first. But she was getting used to it.

Although the road surface was uneven, and the road itself twisted and wound its way between the brush and rocks, it wasn't long before she could see the Ark's outline ahead, extruding itself from the volcano it had crashed into so long ago. Chromia felt her cybermusculature tighten at the thought that Ironhide was waiting for her there. They'd had a blazing row in their shared quarters after the public meeting. Nevertheless, she entered the approach corridor and zoomed towards the control room.

Once there she transformed and advancedmore slowly. Bumblebee and Bluestreak were on guard duty – though she'd noted on her arrival that they didn't always take it that seriously – and Optimus was standing in front of Teletraan I. Onscreen she saw that Astrotrain had landed in Washington Park in nearby Portland, and the four femmes were climbing out of his hatch. As soon as they were outside, Astrotrain transformed to robot mode and shepherded them to a vantage point among the outskirts of the trees below the Forest Discovery Centre, from where they could watch the passing traffic on the adjacent South-West Sunset Highway.

"It's all right, Optimus," Chromia told him, "Astrotrain has orders to see the girls get suitable alt modes. He's not up to any mischief."

"That'll be a first," Optimus said, continuing to watch the screen. "I launched a satellite to keep an optic on Astrotrain. We might as well know what those femmes' alt modes are," he added, and summoned Ironhide to continue to monitor developments. Then he added to Chromia, "Are you ready to be debriefed? And is Ratchet all right?"

"I'm ready," Chromia said. "I _think_ Ratchet's all right. He was fine when I left."

"We have a tracker beacon on him," Optimus said, "though for all we know the Decepticons have software that can detect and disable it. But I'd like you to carry one for your mission as well. You can give Starscream the frequency in case he needs to pull you out of Stomp's premises at any time." He beckoned to her. "We'll go to my office to speak."

Ironhide appeared at the entrance to one of the corridors. As he approached he tried to make optical contact with Chromia, but she looked very deliberately at Optimus first, until she was ready to meet his gaze. She lifted her chin a little, and shifted stance until she stood with her stabilising servos apart, her back rigid, and her servos clasped behind her back.

"You're in charge while I debrief Chromia," Optimus told Ironhide. "I've despatched a satellite to find out what alt modes Megatron's femmes choose – Astrotrain's in charge of them. Don't attack them unless they cause trouble. Chromia, come with me."

Chromia was happy to follow Optimus. Ironhide had adopted an uncompromising pose before Teletraan I. It wasn't going to be comfortable sharing a recharge berth with him when they were off-shift.

In Optimus's office, Chromia recounted what she'd learned from the femmes about Stomp. When she'd finished, Optimus said with narrowed optics, "I got the impression you weren't telling us everything that happened to you at the _Nemesis _when I debriefed you on your return from the _Nemesis_, but I wanted to speak to you about it privately."

"You're right," she admitted. "I didn't want to say what happened between Starscream and me in front of the others. Ironhide knows, but he's not happy about it. Though I think at base he appreciates me being honest with him."

"Well?" Optimus asked. "Can you tell me now?"

Chromia nodded, and began to explain the more intimate interactions she'd had with Starscream. She left nothing out, but didn't go into any detail. She even mentioned the recording Megatron and Soundwave had made, in case it should resurface later on.

"I understand Ironhide's reactions," Optimus said when she'd finished. "I'm sure I'd feel the same if it were me. But I'll try to smooth things over while you're gone. I could see the way you two were glaring at each other just now." He put his hand on Chromia's shoulder. "If it should become necessary...you _must _be prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve success on this mission and keep Starscream and his trinemates out of the way. I don't want them interfering when we acquire personalities for the new femmes. I'll make things right with Ironhide about it. Whatever you have to do...I'll make it right. And you needn't feel guilty."

"You mean – you'll feel guilty _for_ me?" Chromia compressed her lips into a half-smile. Optimus was being incredibly supportive of her.

"It's..." He shrugged. "It's a leader's prerogative."


	11. Chapter 11: Dominated

Undercover

Cleargold

**Chapter 11: Dominated**

_A/N: Breem: 8.3 minutes, coincidentally the time it takes for the Sun's light to reach the Earth. Groon: hour. Orn: day. Deca-cycle: Approximately three weeks. Vorn: a Cybertronian century, approx. 83 years._

_[] denotes communication via private digital channel._

_Mistaken identification of the citizenry of Earth: As a rule I have tried to stick to the storyline of the G1 cartoon, with some details filled in from the _Megatron: Origin_ comic, but in this instance (and since it isn't explored fully in the cartoon) I have taken onboard the storyline from the G1 Marvel comics whereby the probe sent out by Teletraan 1 identifies Earth cars and other vehicles as the dominant sentient species of Earth – because it seems highly likely to have happened that way. _

_Rated M for adult themes and a cube of energon with a definite twist of citrus! No like, no read._

_To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so._

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own the OCs in this story._

_Acknowledgements: As ever, many thanks to Mirage Shinkiro and Mdnytryder for betaing for me and to Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud. _

*

This world's Sun was a ball of flame which lent some of its fire to every car on the freeway speeding through the early evening towards the gridlock Dreamtime could see ahead in the distance. She wrapped her arms around her knees and took in the sights, sounds and scents of the new planet she found herself on. Beneath her the hill sloped fairly steeply, and she had to peer between the trees to see the cars. In front of her and to her left, Tendertouch leaned against Astrotrain's bulky form. A little to her right sat Hotstuff and Shadowkiss, equally engrossed in absorbing every scrap of information to be found around them.

On arrival on Earth she'd only glimpsed this water-rich world for a few astroseconds before entering Megatron's base, and she had nothing to compare it with except Cybertron; and as it had been many vorns since she'd been outside the brothel where she and her friends had been virtual prisoners, any comparison would have been well out of date.

"Don't make the mistake of thinking these are the inhabitants of this planet," Astrotrain sniggered, "like our leaders did when they got here."

"So...who _are_ the inhabitants?" Shadowkiss asked.

A cry came from below. Dreamtime leant forwards and spotted a minute form at the foot of the hill, flanked by two other, larger forms. The tiny form pointed directly at her. The others grabbed it and pulled it back against them, then hurried away.

"There's your answer," Astrotrain sneered. "The Autobots like to keep the flesh creatures – the humans – as pets."

"They're...like smaller versions of us –" Dreamtime stuttered.

"But – organic?" Shadowkiss was hesitant in her assessment.

"I'd say so," said Hotstuff. "All the life on this planet seems to be organic – look at this vegetation." She patted the ground, where a fuzz of tiny green blades erupted from all over the hillside.

"Since when were _you_ experts?" Astrotrain demanded. Dreamtime realised he was sore because they knew more than he'd expected. "I've lived here longer than you."

"Back at the brothel we used to get clients who'd been off-world, and some of them had visited organic planets," Shadowkiss said. "They used to tell us about them."

"Not at Stomp's place," Hotstuff put in. "We didn't have time to talk to clients there. Appointments were strictly timed to one breem. Before, when we worked for Whiphand - before we became slaves as well as whores."

_They've got Astrotrain's attention now,_ Dreamtime thought. _And it's shut him up. _His smug attitude was beginning to annoy her. _If he's like that all the time, how does Tendertouch put up with him? _She realised he probably didn't know how to respond to this new situation, and certainly didn't like appearing less knowledgeable than they were, in view of his alt mode. It was true that when she and her friends had arrived they'd been dazed, barely aware of their surroundings, mere automatons, thanks to Stomp. But since Chromia's data donations and Hook's ministrations they'd begun to see their new surroundings in a different light and with greater depth and clarity, and every day – and night – brought revelations about their paramours and the rest of the company they were keeping.

Astrotrain just changed the subject. "Well, what are you going to choose, girls?" He sounded bored as he waved his hand at the road below. "You have plenty of choices for your new alt modes." He _looked_ bored too. "But can't you just access your old forms now that you have your new transformation cogs?"

"No, and even if we could, those forms were Cybertronian," Dreamtime pointed out. "They wouldn't exactly blend in here."

"I suppose not." Astrotrain expelled a gust of air through his intakes. "Better get on with it, then."

"What about that one?" Tendertouch pointed to a car on the freeway, approaching at a fair speed until it had to slow to mesh with the traffic heading closer into the town centre. The hood was long, with an impression of power and solidity, and the short rear of the vehicle had a boxy look, but with the gently sloping rear windshield leading into a pert little spoiler.

Tendertouch drew herself up to her full height, which was somewhat less than Astrotrain's, for the scanning process. That completed, she stood just inside the line of trees, concentration evident on her features.

Dreamtime, Shadowkiss and Hotstuff watched her, wondering whether she'd be able to transform again at all after the vorns without the ability. But within astroseconds her parts had begun to shift into the new configuration, some shunting aside to make way for others, some stretching apart or squeezing together, then shunting again into a further position. It took almost half a breem to settle into the new shape, but soon Tendertouch crouched on the hillside. She'd retained her usual peachy orange colouring, rather than taking on the original colour of the car she'd scanned, and Dreamtime thought she brought the model a particular beauty.

"Hey, guess what? I'm a Porsche 944 Turbo!"

"Not a bad choice, even if it is a ground-based vehicle," Astrotrain pronounced. "Nice lines! Come to think of it, Dead End's a Porsche 928, so he'll probably think you've chosen well."

No sooner had Tendertouch transformed than she started to shift back into her usual form. When she'd finished, she said, "Phew! I was worried I'd be stuck like that and not be able to get into Astrotrain for the ride home."

Astrotrain held up his hands in protest. "No mud allowed! But you'd still be able to drive yourselves home –"

"I don't think Megatron would be very pleased if you arrived back without us," Dreamtime said in a severe tone. "As I recall you were given strict instructions to escort us –"

"Just joking." Astrotrain pointed out another sports car. "Who likes that one?"

"I like the lines," Shadowkiss said cautiously, "but it looks a bit slow."

"That could be due to the traffic, but even if it's not the case, it shouldn't be a problem for you. I hear all of you had car alt modes back on Cybertron, so you should be able to push the performance up on your own inbuilt merits." Astrotrain shrugged. "And if you don't like it you can always change it later." He waved a hand at the car. "It _looks_ sharp."

_He just wants to get this over and done with._ Dreamtime looked from her best friend to the car. Its curves were shapely and the deeply-marked intakes along the vehicle's side gave it a rakish, almost lascivious appearance. She nodded her approval to Shadowkiss.

"All right." Shadowkiss began her own scan of the red car's long low lines, and the sound of transformation ensued.

"What are you?" Dreamtime asked when she'd finished.

"Ferarri Testarossa," Shadowkiss announced, her voice slightly muffled. "You like?"

"Definitely."

"I bet Thundercracker will!" Hotstuff grinned.

"Now you, Dreamtime." Tendertouch came over to her and slipped her arm through hers. "That looks kind of interesting," she added, pointing to another vehicle far back in the distance. It was silver in colour, attenuated and low-slung. As it neared the traffic queue, it slowed, pulled over, and parked on the side of the road. The doors swung upwards and a human femme got out, fiddled with something at the front of the car, got back in and folded the door down before driving off again.

_I _want_ that one_, Dreamtime told herself, and initiated the scan. When she'd finished, Astrotrain asked what it was.

"DeLorean," she said. "Gull-wing doors, rear-mounted engine, and flipfront hood opening –"

"Hmm. But did you know," Astrotrain interrupted, his expression serious, "it even has an alt mode of its own."

"What's that?"

"Time machine!" Astrotrain said, and laughed. "If you believe that, I have a nice palace in Vos you might like to buy!"

"Astrotrain, stop it!" Tendertouch hissed, grinning as she slapped his arm so that his armour rang softly.

"Okay, here goes." Ignoring Astrotrain, Dreamtime began to reformat herself into the new model, aware as she did so that Hotstuff was scanning the traffic for her own new alt mode. Once in her new form, like Tendertouch, she transformed back to robot mode almost immediately, in time to see Hotstuff transforming into another sports car.

"What are _you_ in your spare time these days?" Dreamtime asked Hotstuff.

"I'm a Pontiac Fiero," came the answer, as Hotstuff settled her parts into their new configuration. "Flipfront hood, pop-up headlights, excellent fuel economy combined with striking good looks...What more could a femme want?"

*

"You two are on recon. See what you can find out about Stomp and his organisation." Starscream cast a look of approval over his wingmates' temporary paint jobs. They'd reverted to their Cybertronian tetrajet forms as part of their disguise. "I'll get the base comm. gear ready for use."

Thundercracker and Skywarp nodded and leapt into the air.

Starscream was glad to have something to take his mind off Chromia. He'd been pleased, secretly, that Megatron's punishment had merely kept him busy; after all, it could so easily have involved yet more physical chastisement. He watched his trinemates disappear up into the tangle of roads and buildings above, then turned and went into the building, an old Decepticon safe house. It was empty, since nothing had been left behind when it had been abandoned; it appeared derelict from outside, but the fabric was intact. It was ideal for their purpose. He went up the anti-grav stairs opposite the door they'd fixed earlier, and into a side room, where he started work on assembling the communications gear which would allow them to keep in contact with Megatron. It took about half a groon. When he was done he heaved it into position and opened the window to look out into the alleyway that ran alongside the building. It was empty. He took a signal booster relay unit from the case which had held the communications gear, wired it in and attached it beside the window, hoping the alley wasn't used often. If it was, someone might notice the relay and wonder why it was there...He decided he'd camouflage it as soon as possible. There was just one task to do to finish the job. He took another piece of equipment from the case, tucked it inside his cockpit, closed the window, and left the building, locking it securely behind him. Then he jumped into the air, transformed to jet mode, and shot up through the levels of Kaon until he reached the uppermost one.

Landing and transforming, he checked for a suitable place to attach the second signal booster relay, which he removed from his cockpit. It should be somewhere where it wouldn't be vulnerable to discovery or removal, but where there would be an unobstructed view of the relay at their base, so that their communications would be unimpeded. Any obstacles would block them, since the whole city was constructed of dense metal. He selected what appeared to be a suitable spot, attached the booster and peered downwards. _That should do it, but only a test message will show whether it's really the right place. _Intent on this task he dived towards the lowest level again.

And nearly collided with the building when he saw a familiar blue female form standing outside it. Staggering slightly as he landed, Starscream turned to face her, feeling as if he'd been punched hard in his midsection. She looked different, though. In a flash he took in the augmented chest area with its silver-outlined power bulges, the decoration on her chassis instead of the usual Autobot brand, the ice blue and silver paintwork, which echoed her silver-outlined lips. _What on Cybertron...?_ "Chromia, what are _you_ doing here?"

She laid a finger across his own lips and set them tingling. [Shush, Starscream, I'm to be known as Argentea here!]

_Uh-oh, that sounds like she's working undercover as well,_ Starscream thought. [Okay, _Argentea,_ what are you doing here?]

[Can we go inside?] She indicated the building. [This _is_ it, isn't it?]

*

"Go on, then, girls, show Megatron what you've got!" Astrotrain leant back against the wall of the control room and folded his arms, totally relaxed.

Megatron watched and waited. He could feel the ire rise in him as the four femmes looked at one another in bewilderment. With little patience left he finally said, "Show me your new alt modes," and at once they initiated the process of transforming.

Megatron surveyed the new forms before him. Dreamtime's pale lemon and gold DeLorean he thought very becoming, the Testarossa alt mode Shadowkiss had chosen was provocative, as was Hotstuff's Pontiac Fiero, and Tendertouch's Porsche styling was pert and sassy. "It's a shame you haven't got airborne alt modes, though I know you didn't have them on Cybertron either. But you all look fantastic...Excellent!" he murmured. "You'll be in competition with the Stunticons before too long."

"Oh, are they the guys in the shooting contest the other day?" Tendertouch asked.

"Shooting contest?" Megatron's voice was quiet, but resonant with power.

"What shooting contest was that?" asked Astrotrain.

"Yes, you know, the day Starscream came back all fixed up. It was...Blitzwing, and Drag Strip, and the other one...Wildrider, I think –"

"– And we had to kiss them when they won!" added Shadowkiss.

"_WHAT?" _Megatron and Astrotrain roared together.

Megatron was the first to recover his equilibrium. "Bring them to the hand-to-hand combat arena in the leisure complex," he told Astrotrain. "We'll meet you there in a breem."

Astrotrain left the control room.

"Have – have we done something wrong?" Dreamtime asked.

"Not you," Megatron said. "But those three – especially Blitzwing – should have known better! And so should Starscream." He rested his hands on the command console and leant over the intercom. "Megatron to Soundwave. Report to the control room immediately. Over."

"Acknowledged. Out."

"Girls, transform, and come with me when Soundwave gets here."

As Soundwave entered, Megatron told him he was on duty and shepherded the four femmes out of the control room. He hurried them along to the leisure complex, and led them to the arena. Astrotrain was already there with the Stunticons, but Blitzwing was conspicuous by his absence. "He said he was in his cleansing unit," Astrotrain offered when Megatron raised an optic ridge in query.

"I don't care if he's in medbay, I want him here immediately," Megatron snapped. "Go and get him, Astrotrain. Even if you have to drag him here by the ankles."

Astrotrain nodded and left at once.

The Stunticons stood in silence, waiting for Megatron to speak.

"Whose idea was it?" he asked, and even he could hear the anger roughening his voice.

"We just wanted some sport," Drag Strip said. "We won – so we should have something to show for it –"

"Whose idea?" Megatron repeated, grabbing Drag Strip around the neck and allowing a growl to enter his voice. Out of the corner of his optic he could see Dreamtime put her hand up to her parted lips. "Not Starscream's, by any chance?"

"No," Dreamtime said.

Megatron could see she was becoming agitated, as were the other femmes, but he had to make the point with his troops.

"Blitzwing's," Wildrider blurted out, just as Astrotrain came back in with the Triple Changer. "Starscream warned us, but we thought he was joking."

"Well, you modified the idea," Blitzwing said from behind him. "I guess you thought you should have a piece of the action!"

Wildrider turned, fists clenched.

Megatron released Drag Strip with a shove which sent him tumbling to the floor. "Well, that's fine. You three have just volunteered to help me demonstrate hand-to-hand combat techniques to the_ ladies_. And then they can practice on you." He beckoned to Blitzwing.

"L-lord Megatron?"

"Seeing as it was your idea in the first place, you can help me to demonstrate the first move."

"What move?"

"This one."

In a flash Blitzwing was on his knees with his wrists pinioned behind his body. He blinked his optics in surprise.

"This is a favourite move of mine," Megatron continued. "You can knee your opponent in the back as well, especially if they happen to have a flying alt mode." He leant nearer and added, so quietly that only Blitzwing could hear, "As I understand it you'll have your own femme soon, so leave mine alone. Do you understand?" And he gave a final yank at Blitzwing's shoulders.

Blitzwing nodded, unable to speak.

"Now demonstrate to Dreamtime how I did that. Wildrider!"

The Stunticon advanced with marked reluctance.

"Seeing as it was your idea to make the girls kiss all of you if you won, you can demonstrate the next move." Megatron gripped Wildrider's shoulders and thrust his leg between the Stunticon's. Wildrider put up his hands to try to break Megatron's hold, but Megatron knew he was no match for his own strength and experience. "I'll excuse you a little for your inexperience, since you haven't been online that long, but this is the only time," Megatron whispered. He darted his foot around Wildrider's and swept him off his feet. Wildrider crashed to the ground. "You can demonstrate that one to Shadowkiss. Drag Strip?"

The other Stunticon approached as slowly as his team-mate had.

"I suppose it was your constant desire to beat everyone that got you into this mess." Megatron strolled around Drag Strip and stopped behind him. "Don't imagine it'll go unnoticed. I made you, and I can unmake you."

Drag Strip's fists clenched at his sides, but he said nothing.

"Well," Megatron continued, "you have a chance to redeem yourself here." He grabbed Drag Strip's wrist and pulled it over his shoulder. At the point where his arm would pop out of its joint with any more pressure, Drag Strip staggered, losing his balance. Megatron rammed the raised lip of his armoured knee into Drag Strip's back. The Stunticon collapsed on the floor.

"And you can show Tendertouch and Hotstuff how that one works."

Megatron realised that none of the femmes had made a move yet. Out of the corner of his optic, he saw Astrotrain relax visibly, and moved round the arena to stand next to him. "Blitzwing! If I hear so much as a whisper of anything like this again, I'll reassign your new femme. _You_ ought to have known better!

"Drag Strip, Wildrider! I know you each registered for a femme, despite the fact that you probably barely know what to do with one, so just remember that what I give, I can take away. I'm sure there are deserving _Autobots_ that would be happy to accept a femme!" His optics were fixed on the three groups. "Girls, drop your opponent ten times, then move on to the next opponent and technique...Astrotrain and I will be on hand to help. It doesn't have to be graceful. You just need to be able to use it on Stomp."

Four femmes needed no further encouragement or instruction to do what Megatron had told them.

*

[Whoo-hoo!] Skywarp switched from jet mode to robot mode in midflight, flinging an arm up in exuberance. The two of them had been larking around like War Academy graduates on Graduation Day ever since they'd left their base more than a groon ago. [Isn't it great to be on Cybertron again?]

[Of course it is!] Thundercracker agreed, copying him and swooping around an intact tower. [But d'you think we'll blow our cover like this? I have a feeling Screamer might not approve –]

[Oh, well – out of sight, out of mind, as the flesh creatures say!]

[But don't you think,] TC persisted, [that we should do what we were sent out for and not draw attention to ourselves?]

[Probably.] Skywarp grabbed TC's arm and teleported them both a couple of miles further on, towards the centre of Iacon.

[Hey!]

[What?] Skywarp hung motionless in the sky before him, laughing at him.

[A little warning would have been useful!] TC surveyed the apparently-deserted city below. [And I don't think you should do that, 'Warp. It's not like we're unknown on Cybertron. Someone might recognise us, despite the paint jobs.]

[All right. Where's the best place, then?]

[To start? Maccadam's Old Oil House, I guess. Then we can move on, talking to everyone until we find something out.]

[Then let's get there.] Skywarp grabbed his arm again, yanking him after him as he teleported again. "This is going to be great, TC!"

*

Starscream typed in the access code and the door slid aside, closing after them. "You'd better come in here." He led Chromia into one of the rooms off the main entrance hallway. It was furnished with a low table and a few chairs. "We're using this as a meeting room. We can speak freely in here – I checked and there are no bugs."

"Makes a change!" she murmured, one brow-ridge tilted. "Starscream, I'm here to help – Optimus sent me, with Megatron's agreement. Moonracer and Firestar are following in a couple of orns. The intention's to lure Stomp out."

Starscream still felt as if someone had thumped him in the spark chamber. He tried to ignore the sensation and cope with the shock. "How did you find us?"

"Megatron gave me the co-ordinates. He let me use the space bridge as well, so I could get here quickly."

"Oh. Well, Thundercracker and Skywarp have gone out on recon to find out whatever they can about Stomp's organisation and its activities. We think he's probably involved in weapons and perception-enhancing software smuggling, protection racketeering, illegal sports and betting, data smuggling, and of course, we know he was into prostitution. We just need to find the evidence and follow the links back to him. Then Megatron will decide the best way of dealing with him." He paused. "Er – what did Prime suggest you do here?"

"He didn't. I suggested coming here myself. My cover will be as a prostitute, offering non-penetrative dominatrix-type services. If that doesn't draw Stomp in and allow me to infiltrate his operation, nothing will!"

"But Chromia, that's really dangerous! I ought to put my foot down and refuse to let you do it –"

"Have you got a better idea, then?" She stared at him, chin lifted in determination.

"No, but –" He had to admit that it was a neat plan, and would probably be very effective. Then Starscream remembered the numbness in his crotch during the groons of repairs at Autobot HQ. "But what worries me is that you know perfectly well what Stomp's capable of, where females are concerned –"

"Optimus has copies of my data exchange terminal and my pleasure programme," she interrupted. "As you may have guessed, they were used for our new females. Stomp may remove them, but they can easily be replaced."

"You're so _brave_, Chromia," he said, "and I guess it's one of the reasons why I – admire you. But why did Optimus use _your_ pleasure programme, and not, say, Elita's?"

"Mine has an extra feature or two that make it superior – we femmes don't all just come off the assembly line the same, you know!"

"What – kind of features?"

"It's not something you need to know right now, so I'd rather not say!" Chromia expelled air through her intakes. "But my female creator uploaded a copy of her own pleasure programme to my body when it was built, and when she died she urged me to share that gift with other femmes, as and when appropriate. So when Optimus first floated the idea of his project I saw it as an opportunity to respect her wishes. Even Elita One has a copy now."

"And when Megatron captured you, he gave you another opportunity, I suppose..." Starscream tried to digest the information, then gave up and decided to file it away for future examination. "But what about Stomp himself – you know, if he tries to – to rape you? What then?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that. I'm well-armed. And presumably we can still use the channel we used back at your base?"

He nodded, remembering the temptation to use it just a few solar cycles previously, after returning to the _Nemesis_.

"Well, then. And he can hardly try anything if I've put him in stasis lock!"

"I suppose not," Starscream agreed, grinning to himself at the incongruity of the thought of Chromia hitting Stomp over the head with a vase of flowers, as he'd seen on human TV during a morning of enforced idleness at Autobot HQ. _She'd do it, too._ "Just make sure you let me know if he tries anything so I can get there quickly."

"I will."

"And just in case your plan doesn't bring Stomp out in the open, I'll make sure Thundercracker and Skywarp still carry out their infiltration plans as well."

"Oh, I just remembered," she said, opening her chest compartment and reaching into it. "Wheeljack sent you this." She handed him the wristband. "I'm not sure why, but he said Ratchet thought you might need it."

Starscream took it from her and slipped it over his wrist. "I might at that," he said. Then he remembered the comm gear; the shock of seeing her there had driven it right out of his processor. "I need to send Megatron a test message and set up the mission account. Come with me, and then we can sort out which room you're going to use as a workroom. We don't need all the chairs in here. We can put a couple in the hall for your clients to wait for you on. I'm sure you'll have quite a few customers once the word gets round."

*

The green-and-white tetra jet transformed in mid-air, then hovered down to land with a click as his feet touched the metal of the highway that led to sub-level six of the lower-east quadrant: the location of Maccadam's Old Oil House. Beside Thundercracker, Skywarp's more garish orange-and-yellow paint job stood out against the dark sky as he, too, landed.

"No teleporting, now," Thundercracker warned, as a digital message came in from Starscream, telling him he'd set up the mission account.

"No problem," 'Warp replied.

Thundercracker knew he'd received Starscream's message simultaneously.

Ahead of them the best-known drinking-house on Cybertron beckoned, with its lighted windows, its door slightly ajar and emitting the odours of oil and energon. Thundercracker sniffed. Oil smelt thick and sour to his olfactory sensors, while energon, particularly high-grade, had a fine sweet aroma. "Mmm..."

"You're not going to tell me you're already getting over-energised just from smelling the high-grade, are you?" 'Warp remarked.

"Not likely," Thundercracker scoffed. He considered challenging 'Warp to a race to the bar, but realised that would probably result in more teleporting, so he just took his arm and steered him towards the entrance. Once inside, they made their way to the bar, careful not to look around them as they went. In the search for information the need to avoid trouble was paramount. But it was highly possible that they would find what they sought here, where Decepticons rubbed shoulders with Autobots and neutrals – although few of the last were in evidence.

Having acquired a supply of high-grade, Thundercracker leaned back against the bar and began a slow appraisal of the occupants of this venerable drinking house. Some were Autobots; but there were roughly even numbers of their own faction, and a sprinkling of chassis naked of any insignia at all.

'Warp nudged his arm. "D'you really think we're going to find anything here? I can only see a few neutrals."

"They're more likely to have the kind of information we want, though," Thundercracker said in an undertone. "What would a Decepticon do with this kind of information, if he knows what's good for him?"

"Go straight to Megatron."

"Precisely. So I suggest we target the neutrals. Anyway, we're well-enough-known that other Decepticons would probably recognise us once we start talking."

"Hmm. I see what you mean." 'Warp raised his glass and drank some of the pink fluid in it. "Well, how about that fellow over there?" He inclined his head towards a mech standing further along from them at the bar.

Straight away Thundercracker saw the symbol on the mech's chest: a fist in a red circle. "Looks like we got lucky," he said.

*

At dusk Starscream watched as Chromia emerged from her workroom. She looked a little tired, but also pleased with herself. "A successful day, then," he said. "But you look like you could use some energon."

She wiped her face with one servo. "I certainly could."

"Come with me," Starscream said. He led her upstairs and into another room. "Have a seat. Oh, and we can speak freely here." He opened a cupboard and retrieved a bottle, poured some liquid into a glass and handed it to her.

Chromia sank onto one of the chairs he indicated, looking around. He saw her optics linger on the double berth in the corner of the room. "Are – are these your quarters here, Starscream?"

He nodded. "We haven't really worked out where you're going to recharge, have we?"

"I hadn't really thought about that."

"It won't be very pleasant resting in your workroom – not with all those instruments of torture around! You could...stay here – with me," he suggested. "Your pimp wants to protect you, Chromia. Stomp's quite likely to choose the night-time to attack. You'll be safer with me than in your workroom." He held up his wrist. "I'm wearing Wheeljack's bracelet. Nothing will happen between us – unless you want it to."

She regarded him through narrowed optics before answering. "I'll stay if you keep it on, then, Starscream."

He'd thought she would find a reason to refuse. Relief flooded through him. "Good. "

Chromia drank the rest of her energon and turned toward him. "I know you'll do your best for me, Starscream. But remember that I can't infiltrate Stomp's organisation unless he takes me prisoner."

He let air siphon out of his intakes in a gust. "I know," he said. _But I was hoping to spend a few days with you._ He stood up and finished his energon. "Time to rest." He took the glasses and placed them on the low table, then realised he was at a loss as to how to proceed.

Chromia seemed to feel no such embarrassment. She crossed the room, swung herself onto the double berth and lay down in one fluid movement.

Awkwardly, Starscream crossed the room until he stood beside her. "Are you – er – okay?"

"I'm fine. Come on." She patted the other side of the berth.

"You worked very hard today, getting that room organised." He got onto the berth and lay down. "Do I – get a goodnight kiss?"

"Don't push your luck!" But she put her lips to his cheek.

Starscream let a few astroseconds trickle by before encircling her with his arms and pulling her on top of him. "Mmmm." His mouth sought hers, as he'd been wanting to ever since she'd arrived. His glossa gently traced the silver outline of her amazing lips. He'd been wanting to do that all day, too.

For a moment she kissed him back, allowing him to slip his glossa into her mouth and touch her own. She even reciprocated. Then she pushed herself up on her elbows. "All right. But I need to rest now. Like you said, I worked really hard today."

Starscream pressed her as close to him as he could. He stroked her forehead with one hand, and sighed, almost resignedly, "Chromia."

She whispered back. "Rest well."

"You too."

"Mmm..."

It wasn't long before he realised she'd slipped into recharge mode, and shortly after that, he did, too.

*

[D'you think he's seen us?] From the descriptions the girls had given them at their debriefing session before departing for Cybertron, Skywarp realised that the mech along the bar from them wasn't one of Stomp's main players.

[I don't think so,] TC replied.

[Do you want to talk to him, or follow him and see where he goes?] Skywarp asked. He looked round cautiously again. The mech was in conversation with two others. Neither sported Stomp's symbol on their chassis.

[Follow him,] TC replied promptly. [We can track him at high altitude, and because he's got a ground-based alt. mode, he'll never know.] His brow-ridges tilted slightly.

Over the vorns Skywarp had come to recognise that this expression meant TC was thinking hard about something. [What is it?]

[He's a long way from Kaon!] TC mused. [I'm just wondering whether he's here on business or pleasure.]

[How d'you mean?]

[Well, Stomp's base is in Kaon. If he's here on business that could mean he's planning to expand his base of operations into Iacon –]

[Right under the Autobots' noses –]

[Precisely. But if he's here on pleasure, it doesn't necessarily signify anything,] TC added. [Wish I could hear what they're saying!]

[So do I, but when he leaves, if you follow him, I could always get some information out of these two and find out what the connection is,] Skywarp suggested.

TC gave him a sharp stare. [That's not a bad idea at all,] he sent.

It wasn't long before the mech from Stomp's organisation finished his drink, rose and left Maccadam's.

[My cue to leave,] TC sent. [Keep in touch.] And he got up and went outside.

Skywarp had come close to finishing his high-grade by this time, so perhaps it was time for him to make a move as well. It wouldn't, after all, be the done thing to be seen with an empty glass in the most famous drinking-house on Cybertron. He approached the bar, glass in servo, making sure to pass just a little too close to the two mechs who'd been in conversation with Stomp's mech.

A Seeker needed a little more room than a Transformer with a ground-based alt mode. But Skywarp knew he could use that to his advantage. As he passed in front of the two mechs he caught the glass one of them had set beside him on the bar with the leading edge of his wing. The glass hit the floor and shattered, spilling energon everywhere.

Skywarp turned to the mech at the bar. "Ooh, sorry about that. Can I get you another?" he said, as the automatic clean-up drones scurried around, scooping up debris and sucking up the spilt energon.

The mech's features underwent a series of shifts as one emotion after another chased across his face: annoyance, disgust, greed and pacification. "Okay," he said, and named the highest grade available.

Skywarp kept his features immobile as he gave the order at the bar. When the payment terminal slid up from the edge of the bar, he folded down a finger and plugged into the terminal to transfer the energon credits over to the establishment's account. He remembered perfectly well how the war had resulted in the streamlining of the Cybertronian economic system so that every transaction was now done by credit transfer. He nodded pleasantly to the mech when his drink arrived, all the while squashing down his contempt for him. _Now I've got to make conversation with this self-important doofus!_ "Is this where you normally drink?"

"What's it with you?" demanded the second mech.

_Oh, of course, his glossa didn't just get greased with a shot of the best high-grade._ "I just wondered, that's all," Skywarp replied, turning back to the first mech. "Well?"

"I had a job interview –"

"With whom?"

"The mech from Kaon –"

"To work here?"

The mech shook his head. "In Kaon."

"Don't _tell_ 'im!" the second mech growled. "He'll probably go after the work himself."

"Not me!" Skywarp protested, "I'm already employed. Well, I must be going." He headed for the door. But before he could get there, something tripped him up, and when he looked up from the floor the second mech stood over him.

"_Take it outside!"_ the bartender yelled.

"Too right I will!" A quick glance behind him told him the other mech was still at the bar, laughing into his high-grade at them. Skywarp climbed to his feet and faced the mech who had tripped him up. He launched himself at him with such force that he carried the other mech out through the open doorway and onto the road. The second mech was underneath him, trying to hit him. Skywarp raised himself up enough to land a heavy punch onto the mech's face. The head snapped back against the ground and the mech fell back onto the road, unconscious.

Skywarp extricated himself from the tangle of limbs and walked a few paces away before leaping into the air. As soon as he'd transformed, he headed south to Kaon and contacted TC.

[That could be useful,] TC replied, [if Stomp's recruiting.]

[That's what I thought. Are you still following that mech?]

[Yes.]

[What are your co-ordinates right now?]

TC told him, and Skywarp was soon able to reach him, using his teleportation power, when nobody else was around, to help him catch up. Some time later they circled over Kaon together, watching Stomp's mech head into another well-known local drinking house. They transformed, landed, and followed the mech into the Well of All Sparks.

[Been here before?] Skywarp asked.

[Nah, not my style,] TC replied. [You?]

[A long time ago.] Skywarp paused to look around him. Part of the building had been destroyed, and the broken metal edges showed signs of corrosion. But the main bar was intact. [It's had a drastic makeover – must have changed hands.] The bar was full of mechs sporting Stomp's symbol. There wasn't a femme in sight. [Maybe Stomp's involved in this too,] Skywarp suggested.

[Maybe,] TC agreed.

Skywarp turned to the nearest mech. "I hear this is a good place to come if you're looking for work."

The mech surveyed him from head to foot. "Since when does a fancy mech like you need work?"

"I've just returned here," Skywarp said. "Do you know who I should speak to?"

"I thought all the Seekers worked for Megatron," the mech said. "Where've _you_ come from?"

"Off-planet. And not all Seekers work for Megatron. I _am _looking for work."

"Well, you could try Tallysheet over there." The mech jerked a thumb in the direction of a deep red mech whose body bore all the signs of being in the construction industry – at least, the destruction side of it.

"Thanks." Skywarp headed towards the crimson mech. [I need to follow this up alone, I think,] he told TC.

[That's fine. I'm going to talk to a few mechs about – well, you know what we discussed.]

[Yeah,] Skywarp sent. He walked up to Tallysheet. "Excuse me, are you Tallysheet? I've been told you're looking to hire good workers."

Tallysheet surveyed him critically, and Skywarp used the time to return the compliment. Tallysheet bore at his hip a wrecking ball on a massive chain which ran diagonally across his chassis, but it didn't appear to be attached to anything, so Skywarp concluded it was just bling. His visor was a metallic greenish shade.

"Your paint job's a bit fancy for the kind of work we do," he replied brusquely, and turned away.

"What kind of work makes me too fancy?" Skywarp persisted, standing right in front of the mech. "I've done every kind of work going, and I'm not afraid of a few dents. My name's Flashfire." And he held out his hand, though it pained him to even consider physical contact with this low-life slagger.

Tallysheet looked him up and down again. "Flashfire, eh? Well, you're determined, I'll give you that." He took Skywarp's hand and shook it, then sipped his high-grade as if thinking hard and fast. "Tell you what, Flashfire, come and see me here tomorrow at 16.00 groons and we'll talk. Determination and adaptability count for a lot with me."

"I'll be there," Skywarp said. _That gives me nine groons for recharge and anything else I need to do. That's copeable._ He turned away, looking for TC.

He was in conversation with another mech who bore Stomp's symbol on his chassis. Skywarp waited until they'd finished speaking and sent a digital message to TC to meet him outside. He didn't want to be seen drinking in the bar if he was going to infiltrate the organisation by getting a job; it wouldn't go down well. And he intended to get some serious drinking in before returning to their base.

TC came outside shortly after Skywarp did, and they departed for another drinking house, one closer to their base.

"You know what, TC? I got a job interview."

"Excellent. I got a chance to sell some arms."

"Genius! Now let's get some more high-grade!"

*

"Shade, come in here a moment!" Chromia called from the doorway of her workroom. They'd all agreed to use their aliases in the base, unless in the privacy of their own quarters or they knew the area was definitely bug-free.

Starscream was crossing the landing back from the communications room towards his quarters, but he diverted down the anti-grav stairway towards Chromia. They'd decided that she would use a room on the ground floor so that her "clients" wouldn't have any excuse to explore the building, and hopefully no reason to suspect the presence of the communication channel with Earth. "What is it?"

"Where are your two colleagues?"

"They're still not back, though they should be here soon."

She saw the expression in his optics of leaping hope and longing. It was quickly masked. For an instant she felt a bit mean, knowing how he felt about her and exploiting that to some extent, especially when he'd no doubt come to Cybertron to distract himself from the feelings he'd formed for her. _But I have a part to play,_ she reminded herself, _so that Optimus can complete his project._ It was her total commitment to that which had prompted her to volunteer for this mission in the first place. "I want to show you something." She beckoned him into the room.

"What?"

"I need a volunteer."

"What for?"

"To try this out on!" She pointed towards the berth. "Lie down."

Starscream looked a little bewildered. "I hope you haven't decided I'm – what is it the flesh creatures say? Kinky?"

She grinned at him. "Hi Shade, nice to meet you. I'm your dominatrix for today!"

He grinned back then, but looked a little embarrassed as well.

"Lie down," she repeated.

This time he did so, but his optics sought hers as if about to fight her.

"You've been a very naughty boy," she said. "I'm going to have to punish you for that." Very deliberately she took each of his hands in turn and looped the shackles over his wrists. Then she repeated the process with his ankles. "I'm going to have to punish you hard. I want you to be good –"

"Chromia, are you sure you don't have any Decepticon code anywhere in your programming?"

He was laughing at her, but she could see a tinge of alarm in his expression. _The laughter could be embarrassment,_ she decided. "Not a single line." Her tone was mild as she reached into a drawer in the cabinet in the corner of the room and picked something up, turning to face him. "I do hope you're going to be a good boy and take your punishment well, especially after being so naughty –"

Evidently he'd decided to play along with her role, because he said, "Please, Mistress, I didn't mean to be naughty! I'll be good once you've punished me –"

She let him see the electric lash. "Are there any parts you'd especially like me to whip?"

"Uh – perhaps my chassis. Seeing as I'm lying on my back." He looked really alarmed now.

"And if you were lying on your front?"

"Probably my aft," Starscream murmured. "I'd guess. You're certainly getting into the part!"

"D'you want me to stop now?"

As if from a great distance away, the front door rolled shut with a slam.

"It's Thundercracker, or Skywarp, or both of them. Chromia, you're very good at this, but I really don't want them to see me being practised on!"

Chromia started unshackling him but wasn't quite quick enough. The door opened and one of the Seekers walked in. Chromia registered that his paint job was yellow and orange, with interleaved flames on his body, and wasn't sure whether it was Skywarp or Thundercracker. The unidentified Seeker took one look at Starscream manacled to the bed, another at Chromia and her whip, and stepped back, landing on the other Seeker's foot and nearly ending up on the floor himself.

"Youch!"

"Sorry, TC!"

Chromia burst out laughing.

Thundercracker was hopping about by the door. Now Chromia could see that his paint scheme had also been altered, to green and white, but without the flame design. He looked annoyed. "It's not funny!"

"No, but your expression is!" Chromia controlled her laughter with an effort. "Sorry, guys."

"What on Cybertron is going on here?" It seemed Thundercracker had only just taken in the scene. He turned to Starscream. "Why is _she_ here?"

"I'm just practising my role on Starscream," Chromia explained.

"Sure you Autobot females aren't just plain kinky?" Thundercracker sounded peeved.

"Chromia's going to try to infiltrate Stomp's organisation by offering these sort of services as bait. I think she's incredibly brave –"

"You would, though, seeing as you're sweet on her," Thundercracker told him.

He spoke so quietly that Chromia could hardly hear.

Then he added more loudly, "Mad, more like!"

"That, too," she agreed. "But necessary, since you presumably want your girlfriends to feel safe if they come back to Cybertron!"

"Well...yes."

"Then we have to put aside our differences for once, for the good of Cybertron. It's not a perfect world but we can make it a little better by working together. You can do that, can't you, Thundercracker? Skywarp?"

"I guess."

Skywarp nodded his agreement too. "But Chromia, we know from our girlfriends that Stomp is a femme's worst enemy. He made them sleep with _him_, too – Shadowkiss told me. Aren't you worried about what he'll do to you when he catches you? After all, you are Ironhide's lady."

Chromia acknowledged that with a nod, noticing the wince Starscream couldn't quite conceal. "I'm setting up a reputation for non-penetrative services. I _hope_ that'll keep me safe, at least for a while. And I have taken other...precautions."

"Non-penetrative services." Skywarp stood, arms folded, forefinger angled across his lips, considering. "Can't figure that one out – what does it mean?"

"Well, you know, lubrication, branding, punishment." She indicated the manacles Starscream had finally extricated himself from. "Bondage. Humiliation –"

"Oho, a girl after our own sparks!" Skywarp interrupted.

*

It had been an interesting day, Chromia reflected, the joints around her mouth allowing her lips to curl into a grin of merriment.

At times she'd barely been able to stop herself from laughing aloud. The requests from her customers had ranged from the really bizarre to the pathetic. A couple of times she'd felt uncomfortable and dirty, but she'd put an immediate brake on those feelings and looked at the funny side of the requests. She'd turned a couple of clients away, simply stating that she didn't offer those services; while some things might become necessary for the sake of the mission, she had no intention of doing them with just anyone. But she'd done her best to meet her customers' needs, and if she'd felt unable to do as requested she'd suggested something she didn't have a problem with instead.

She came out of her workroom and into the hall. It was empty, and she was glad. She hadn't reckoned on how draining the work would be (or the strain of keeping a straight face) and was looking forward to refuelling and recharging. "Shade?"

Starscream came out of his meeting room. "Are you finished for today?"

"I think so – do we need to switch off the sign?"

"I'll do it." Starscream went over to a panel of switches on the wall and flicked one of them. He'd installed it that morning, and that had been the start of the steady stream of clients.

"Is there a cleansing unit here?" Chromia asked. "I could really do with freshening up."

"Upstairs, second on the right," Starscream said. "Well, Argentea. You were right – your market research has proved there's definitely a demand here!" He went back into the meeting room, beckoning for her to follow.

"Yes," Chromia agreed, "though I'd rather I didn't have to do some of those things."

"Oh. Bad, was it?"

"Terrible," Chromia said solemnly. "I was dying to laugh!"

"Well, that's...certainly likely to be a difficulty – judging by our practice session!" Starscream said. The corners of his mouth twitched in amusement. "What sort of things?"

"My first client was a Decepticon – one I didn't know –"

"Did he recognise _you_?"

"No. He was into...bondage and humiliation. I had to –" Chromia couldn't hold in a fit of the giggles. "I had to shackle him to the berth and pelt his private parts with outsized wingnuts. He had a set with him. They must have been specially made. I got extra energon credits for every nut I managed to get over his data exchange prong."

Starscream's expression was comical. "Sounds like he gets this done wherever he goes. What was his name?"

"I'm not going to tell you." Chromia giggled again. "He might never live it down, if you have anything to do with it!"

"Touché, as the flesh creatures say!" Starscream laughed. "What else?"

"An Autobot who wants to be dominated."

"Ah. And did he recognise you?"

"No, but he did say I looked somewhat familiar. So I just said, 'Surely not.' I knew who he was, of course. But I'm not going to tell you who _he_ is, either."

"Figures." Starscream allowed air to siphon through his intakes. "And who else?"

"You understand that these are just the most memorable ones?"

"Of course." Starscream nodded.

"One of Stomp's men." Chromia paused. "Name of Erazer. He likes lubrication. He said he'd recommend me to Stomp."

For a moment Starscream said nothing, then he opened his mouth as if to speak, closed it again, and finally said, "I really think you're asking for trouble, Chromia."

"You sound just like Ironhide, Starscream." She didn't feel like laughing any more.

"Okay." He held up his hands. "I'm sorry!" He sighed deeply. "I know you're really uptight about what you see as Ironhide's possessiveness. But I'm sure it's only that he's concerned for you, because that's how I feel, too."

Chromia didn't feel ready to answer that straight away. Her emotions felt confused, and she knew she wasn't ready to sort them out. But having acknowledged that confusion, she could see Starscream was waiting for an answer, and knew that he'd probably been more honest with her than he had with anyone since the start of the war. So she just said, "I know."

"Are you going to be all right, here on your own for a little while? Thundercracker and Skywarp are out on a publicity exercise on your behalf, and I need to investigate the illegal sporting pursuits side of Stomp's operation."

"Oh, you're hoping to win, then?"

"Of course," Starscream said, raising one brow-ridge. "How could you think I wouldn't want to?"

"I think I'll go and use that cleansing unit while you're out, then."

*

Starscream circled over the lowest level of Kaon, surveying the roads in particular. There were few vehicles abroad at this time of night. He would far rather have been lying next to Chromia, but he couldn't avoid the need to locate the unofficial racetrack which provided Cardsharp with some of the material for his betting operations.

His processor returned to the vexing problem he'd identified at Megatron's briefing meeting, before leaving for Cybertron. Dreamtime, Shadowkiss, Tendertouch and Hotstuff had been present at that meeting, and had provided a lot of information about Stomp's organisation, which the Seekers had used to plan their covert operation. As well as their disguises Thundercracker and Skywarp had added some abilities to their respective repertoires. Starscream hadn't changed anything about himself. Not for the first time he cursed his distinctive vocaliser. Its high-pitched rasp would easily identify him as the ringleader of the Seekers who'd stolen Stomp's girls even if he took on his old tetrajet form again, with a new paint job.

According to the girls, it was possible to place bets by radio or digital message. Starscream had discounted both methods though. Radio was out for sure, and a digital message wasn't the answer, either; while it wouldn't give him away, it would involve allocating another wavelength to the operation, and he was unwilling to put himself in a position where he could be contacted or located at any time. It could jeopardise their mission. It might also interrupt him during recharge, or something even more inconvenient. He needed to find another way to place his bets.

Starscream spotted a movement below and swooped in for a closer look, simultaneously activating his optical zoom facility. Flipping back to robot mode as he landed on the parapet of a bridge, he watched as the cars lined up. _I think I've found them,_ he told himself, as he settled down to watch.

Soon there were four or five cars lined up and ready to race. Starscream couldn't see any means of letting the racers know when the race would start, until a mech strutted into the group and began to speak. Shadowkiss had been most specific. The venue and route were always the same, but the dates of races were circulated by the mech in charge of the racing and betting. According to Shadowkiss the illegal fights were held in the back of a club, the location of which Starscream had checked out earlier that evening. A fight – similar to the gladiatorial combat in which Megatron had risen to stardom so long ago – was scheduled for the next evening, but tonight was race night. Kaon hadn't changed much in the intervening vorns.

Starscream leant out from the parapet, peering down. The mech below looked familiar, but for a moment he couldn't place him. But when he zoomed in he realised he was staring at Cardsharp, a well-known neutral at the start of the war. The mech raised his arm, flag in hand. There was a sudden pulse of sound as the cars started their engines. The mech dropped the flag and the cars sped off.

Starscream leapt into the air. He didn't know which route the race would take, but he'd follow and see who won. He was at a high enough altitude that nobody would notice him and he was agile enough to be able to pass through small spaces. Almost immediately he had to flip sideways to pass between two buildings - even in root mode his wingspan was too wide to allow him to pass. He levelled off his flight and rose a little higher to pass over two still-standing buildings.

Below, the race passed around the curve of a tower. The blue car trailed the others. A red car had pulled ahead. A darker blue one and a green one followed. As Starscream hovered to watch, green pulled ahead of dark blue. Red was still in the lead but light blue had put on a spurt and was gaining ground. The race was wide open.

Engaging his thrusters again, Starscream swept round the curve of a bridge which spanned a chasm – one of only a few natural formations in the metallic layers of Cybertron. It was a fracture which went all the way down to the rocky core. Nobody knew why it was there. The road across the bridge led out of the city. Where it went from here, he could only guess. There were several possibilities ahead. He pushed away the thought of his comfy recharge berth and Chromia. He'd soon be back at the base anyway.

One by one the cars shot across the bridge. Light blue was now close behind red. Green was well ahead of dark blue and gaining steadily on light blue. It was looking promising for both light blue and green, although red might have some trick to enable it to win.

Starscream flew higher to survey the route ahead. He recognised the area from when he'd lived in Kaon after joining the Decepticons; as usual, he wasn't going to think about the part of his life in Vos before that. Soon he could see that a turning off the road curved back towards the centre of Kaon ahead. It swung around a large group of buildings before rejoining the winding highway it had diverged from.

He hovered at high altitude above the city to watch the end of the race. Cardsharp stood at a point ahead, distinguishable by the flag he held. In a small race, Starscream remembered from Shadowkiss's information, there was only one winner, but in a larger race there was always a runner-up.

The last curve provided an opportunity for light blue to shoot past red. Green used the same chance to pass both dark blue and red. Soon green edged up behind light blue, eating into the distance between them.

Red slipped back, crowded on the bend by the others. The distance between them decreased. A sudden spurt of speed flung green past light blue just paces before the end of the race. Cardsharp's flag surged groundwards.

_One_ Starscream thought. _If I can find a way to place those bets._


	12. Chapter 12: Covert

**Undercover**

Cleargold

**Chapter 12: Covert  
**

_A/N: Groon: hour. Orn: day. Deca-cycle: Approximately three weeks. _

_[] denotes communication via private digital channel._

_Rated M for adult themes and a cube of energon with a definite twist of citrus! No like, no read._

_To all of you who've reviewed, faved or set up alerts on it, thanks for doing so._

_Disclaimer:__ I do not own TF, Hasbro and Takara do. I'm just a housewife writing for entertainment purposes, so suing me would hardly be worthwhile. However, I do own the OCs in this story._

_Acknowledgements: As ever, many thanks to Mirage Shinkiro and Mdnytryder for betaing for me and to Angelina Ballerina for listening as I read this chapter aloud.  
_

Starscream landed and walked up to the entrance to the base, looked around to make sure once again that he wasn't being followed or observed, and when he was certain he was alone, punched in the access code. The door slid open, and he slipped inside, closing it quietly after him and sealing it shut.

He felt a certain amount of pride and pleasure at having successfully located the illegal racetrack and the club where the gladiatorial contests took place. He checked his internal chronometer. He'd been out a long time, but he'd achieved something.

Now he was looking forward to seeing Chromia again, but he remembered that they'd had something of a disagreement before he'd gone out on his part of the mission. At the thought of her his emotions rioted. He hoped she wasn't still upset with him, but he didn't know what to expect. He simply didn't know her well enough to guess at the outcome of their spat. And that gave his feelings an unaccustomed edge of tension. _Of course, _he thought, _she might not even wake up and realise I'm there. _

He checked each ground floor room before ascending the anti-grav stairs. Everything seemed in order. On the landing he hesitated before entering his quarters, and went and checked each of the other rooms. Finally satisfied that all was well, he opened the door to his quarters.

Chromia lay on her side on his recharge berth, deep in her sleep cycle. He closed the door softly and crossed quietly to her side, removing his null ray and laser cannons. She didn't stir until he laid down beside her and slipped an arm under her waist. Then she pulled him closer against her and mumbled, "Ironhide..."

His spark lurched. His response was immediate and unthinking. "No, it's me, Starscream."

She unshuttered her optics with a series of blinks, visible at this close range behind the blue glass plates.

_She must have been really deep in recharge mode,_ he thought, appalled at having woken her. "It's all right, Chromia, I'm back," he whispered. "It's safe to go back to sleep."

When she'd rebooted and regained control she leant up on her elbow and stared into his face. "You were out a long time."

She looked tired, he saw; her movements were slower than usual. "Have you refuelled?"

She shook her head. "I couldn't find the release catch to your cupboard – the one with the dispenser in."

"Wait here, I'll get you some energon." Starscream released Chromia and climbed off the berth.

"Don't you need some?"

"I'm okay. I refuelled before I went out." Starscream crossed the room to the cupboard and opened it.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yup. Both of them. But I still don't have any idea how I'm going to place my bets." He took the glass over to Chromia. "Here."

"Thanks. Uh, maybe you'd better show me how to open the cupboard."

"Tomorrow. Recharge now."

"I don't need any encouragement for that," Chromia smiled. "I'm beat!" She lay down on the berth again and beckoned to him. "Come on."

Starscream smiled to himself. _I don't need any further encouragement, either, _he thought, as he climbed onto the berth. "Sit up, Chromia," he said, and lay down on his back, so that his wings were flat against the surface of the berth. Then he opened his arms and pressed her close. "I could get used to lying next to you," he said, with a sight susurration of air through his intakes.

"Don't even think like that," she said. "Otherwise, how are you going to cope when this is over?"

He tilted up her face and kissed her full on the lips. "I don't know," he admitted. "But I wouldn't have missed it for the world."

* * *

Thundercracker raised his glass, then took a good long swig of the high-grade in it. Out of the corner of his optic he saw that Undercut had drained his own glass in a couple of gulps.

Undercut clonked the glass down on the bar. "So, Shatterglass. You mentioned these electron disruptors when we met last evening. But tell me, why should _I_ be interested in them?"

_Now, how would Swindle have done this? _Thundercracker thought back to a conversation he'd had with the arms dealer many vorns ago. _What did that slimy fragger say?_ _Oh, yes..._ '"State the features, benefits and incentives."' He set his own glass down very deliberately, and smiled just enough to curve the corners of his mouth. He had the absurd impression that, just for this moment at least, he was in control of the conversation, and so of whatever might happen next. "Because they're the shape of weaponry to come. Because they allow you to take prisoners, enslave, or simply put electrical equipment offline – either permanently or until _you_ choose to bring it back online. They're so...flexible."_ Good thing Starscream's not here – he might be mad at this little bit of – improvisation!_

"Certainly sounds it." Undercut signalled the barmech and demanded refills for both of them. "Haven't you finished yours yet?"

"Not quite."

"You're a slow drinker!"

"Fairly." Thundercracker knew he had to keep his wits about him. "As an incentive I can offer a reduced price on bulk buys."

Undercut's audioreceptors rotated slightly at that, zeroing in on the promise of a good deal. "What sort of price are we talking for these items?"

Thundercracker was ready for that, and named his price. "What sort of quantity and turnaround are you looking for?"

"Eventually, perhaps many. But for now I would be interested in seeing a demonstration of the weapon. When could we arrange that for?"

Thundercracker thought quickly. _I know Starscream will co-operate...but I'll need to mock something up quickly._ "Can I get back to you on that one? I'd need to make some arrangements."

Undercut made a throwaway gesture. "Sure, so would I. Because I think I know someone who would also be very interested in being present at a demonstration."

"Oh? Who's that?" Thundercracker had a moment's panic at the thought that perhaps Undercut was not part of Stomp's organisation after all. Then reason set in. He wouldn't be wearing Stomp's symbol if that were the case.

"My...patron. But I'm not at liberty to name names. You'll meet him soon enough when you give us the demonstration. Now, what venue had you in mind?"

* * *

Megatron sauntered into Hook's newly-converted construction facility. "Progress report?"

Hook was bent over one of his new creations, deftly installing yet another transformation cog. He straightened, dusting his hands. "It's going quite well. The scrounging party's gathered all the materials we needed, and we have several of the femmes partly-completed."

"Excellent," Megatron pronounced. "But you'll need to send the scrounging party out again for more materials. I have one more femme for you to construct. Here." He offered Hook one end of a cable and plugged the other into a port at the back of his head.

Hook looked at him, then took the cable and plugged it in.

Megatron selected the file he wanted to download to Hook. "This one's not assigned to anyone at present," he said, "so I need you to keep quiet about her." The file downloaded, he removed the cable, an action Hook mirrored.

Hook's optics widened. "I thought you and Dreamtime –"

"She's not for me," Megatron interrupted. "She'll have a specific function to perform."

"Oh." Hook looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Lord Megatron. I totally misunderstood – oh, I see. _Blue_ optics –"

Megatron allowed a slow smile to crease his mouth. "I know I can rely on your discretion," he said. "Can I also rely on you to ensure the discretion of the other Constructicons?"

Hook inclined his head in the merest of nods. "Of course."

Megatron returned the nod. "I'll leave her in your capable servos, then." He left the construction lab and headed for Ratchet's temporary work area in Hook's medbay. Inside, he found Ratchet with Dreamtime and Tendertouch.

Tendertouch was lying on a repair berth, Dreamtime seated beside her. Ratchet had Tendertouch plugged into a code analyser and was going over her programming again. He looked up and shook his head at Megatron. "I've been over each of these femmes' programming many times, and I still can't find anything," he said. "The deletions and alterations have been made so subtly that there are no overt signs of what's been done to them. But clearly there have been major alterations to the programming functionality."

"Clearly," Megatron echoed. "Have you tried –"

"Everything." Ratchet raised his hands helplessly. "But I keep feeling maybe I've missed something. So I'm going over everything one more time."

"You said you thought maybe some programmes might be nested one inside another. Have you found any evidence of that?"

"No." Ratchet shook his head. "It's just a complete mystery. There ought to be sub-routines for independence, awareness of quality of life, independent speech, strategic thinking, sense of humour – all the little things you and I take for granted, without even thinking about them. There's nothing, and yet they're all perfectly able to function as entities. But how?"

"Astrotrain turned my sense of humour back on," Tendertouch said abruptly.

"What?" Megatron gaped. Then he allowed a fierce grin to curve his mouth.

"Are you sure it was Astrotrain?"

"Oh yes, Ratchet."

"Well – how did he do it?"

"I – don't know...but I made a joke the other day, and I couldn't do that before."

"All right, let's go back to sense of humour and see if we can find out where the switch is." Ratchet busied himself tracing the code; it scrolled across the analyser's screen. "Mmm – nothing there – is Astrotrain around, Megatron?"

"He's on a mission for me at present. He'll be back later." Megatron caught a glimpse of Ratchet's expression. It was quickly suppressed, but he couldn't help noticing the mixture of emotions it revealed. _He knows Astrotrain's been out helping scavenge materials for my new femmes,_ Megatron realised. He allowed himself a tinge of satisfaction that, thanks to the elegant paucity of his programming, he wasn't subject to the unnecessary luxury of guilt as other mechs were. It had been a major factor in his successful rise to power.

"All right, let me compare this latest reading with the previous ones." Ratchet ran a comparison. "There's no difference from the last five analyses." He cycled air through his intakes. "Tendertouch, how long ago did this happen?"

"When Starscream came back from – wherever it was he went."

"Oh, I remember – you even made Starscream laugh!" Dreamtime said.

Megatron met Ratchet's gaze, lips twitching.

"Then it won't show up, since I've only been running these analyses since I came here." Ratchet's shoulders slumped, then he thought for a moment, before adding, "How do you _know_ he turned it on again? How do you know it was_ Astrotrain_ that turned it on again? What made you notice?"

"He made a joke and...I suddenly found myself laughing at it. I felt – different. But I didn't realise he'd done anything to make me feel different. It was only just now that I understood what had happened."

"Well, Tendertouch, I'm delighted you've got your sense of humour back," Ratchet said. "It's a very good thing indeed. Perhaps we need to try to turn Dreamtime's sense of humour back on, as an experiment. Maybe if we can do that by exposing her to something humorous, we can work out how Stomp turned it off."

"I'll try that later," Megatron said. "But it probably won't be as easy as that, or a customer could have restored their programming just by saying something funny, or –"

"I think it's worth a try," Dreamtime said. "And perhaps you should compare my readings with Tendertouch's, since mine haven't been turned on."

"Now that's an idea!" Ratchet said. "I'll try that. But perhaps it's connected to something else we've already restored without realising. And _I_ think if nothing else turns up you should consider sending the four of them to Vector Sigma with the new femmes," Ratchet suggested. "Or I could be here for the rest of my life, trying to list parts of their programming that have been turned off or deleted, just so that we can think of imaginative ways to restore the code for them!"

Megatron acknowledged that with a nod. "I'll bear that in mind," he said, not wanting to get excited about the possibility of an easy restoration of the code, since Starscream's suggestion about restoring the factory settings had failed to deliver on its promise. _But I'll speak to Starscream now about that possibility,_ he thought, and headed back to his control room.

Soundwave was working there, as Megatron had expected. That was fine; Soundwave's discretion was as absolute as his loyalty, as far as Megatron was concerned. "Patch me through to Starscream," he told Soundwave.

He received something of a surprise when Chromia answered the call. "Where's Starscream?"

"I'll get him for you. I just happened to be the nearest to the comms room," she said. "Hold for an astrosecond." And she left the room.

Starscream appeared shortly.

"Is the channel secure?" Megatron asked. "Are you alone?"

"Yes to both questions."

"Excellent. I have a little mission for you, and I want to keep it just between ourselves."

"What is your wish, O mighty Megatron?"

Megatron realised Starscream wasn't taking him all that seriously. "I mean it," he said. "Don't let anyone – not _anyone_ – know about this. If Stomp hears about it in a roundabout way via you or any of your colleagues it could blow us out of the water."

Starscream performed a guttural defragging of his vocaliser before replying. "I see. What do you need me to do?"

"I want you to assess the current status of the defences of Vector Sigma. It's possible we'll have to take our original group of femmes in separately to restore their full faculties."

"Has Ratchet been unsuccessful, then?"

"Unfortunately, yes, but he did come up with this useful suggestion, and I must explore the possibility of getting Vector Sigma to restore their settings, and, as I know they'll want to be with me when I take back Kaon, before Prime takes his group in for personality assignment."

"When is that happening?" Starscream asked.

"When all our new femmes are completed. Hook estimates it will be another six orns. Prime's waiting for us."

"Hmm. That could be difficult. I've yet to find a way to place my bets –" Starscream's gaze clashed with Megatron's. "Couldn't you just get the information from Prime? He'll need to send someone in to scout it out for his part of the plan."

Megatron ignored this, deliberately drawing Starscream's attention away from the suggestion. "You'll complete this mission as soon as possible, Starscream, and in complete secrecy. Otherwise Ironhide might well receive a communication from me. I think he'll be very interested to hear about Chromia _practising_ for her role on you. It could easily be added to the material I already have ready to send to Ironhide should it prove necessary."

"How do you know about that?" Starscream asked, stepping back a pace before Megatron's fierce gaze.

"Your colleagues apparently practically fell over the two of you in full...ah...spate, not long after Chromia arrived there. They wanted to check with me how much co-operation I'd agreed to after they saw that!" Megatron shrugged. "I told them to go along with it for now."

"I see."

Megatron knew that meant Starscream didn't, and that he was furiously wondering whether there were images, and whether he'd really use them. His antagonism had seeped through onto his faceplates instead of remaining firmly inside his firewalls.

But he merely muttered aloud, "I'll aim to fit it into my schedule, then."

"See that you do," Megatron told him, and let the threat linger as he concluded the transmission.

* * *

Skywarp approached the Well of All Sparks in a series of jumps, a method of travel he often used just because he could. On this occasion, though, he wanted to arrive at the right time and give a good impression of himself to Tallysheet. It was a fine evening, and he could see crowds of mechs gathered outside the bar. He landed at some distance and strolled towards his rendezvous. _There's plenty of time..._

He scanned the crowd for Tallysheet. There was no sign of him, so Skywarp wove his way through the gathering and entered the bar. He hadn't really expected Tallysheet to meet him outside.

Skywarp shouldered between groups of mechs to approach the bar. His optics focused on and passed over mech after mech. Then he spotted the squat form at the end of the bar, standing alone near the section where the wall had been destroyed. On Tallysheet's chest the fist symbol in its warning circle was a beacon for the wary, the ignorant and the downright reckless. Skywarp gulped air into his intakes and counted himself among the latter group.

He stepped around the last group of mechs and sauntered up to the bar, casting a sidewise glance at Tallysheet, making optic contact. As he did so, a shape appeared on Tallysheet's other side. The blur coalesced into the mech from Macaddam's.

_Oh, slag!_ Skywarp thought. _But at least he hasn't brought his disagreeable friend along._

"Well," said Tallysheet, and his voice was the most irritating thing in the universe at that moment, "I see both of you are equally punctual."

At the exact same astrosecond the mech from Macaddam's recognised him. He stepped around Tallysheet and stood, arms folded and legs planted firmly apart, ready to confront Skywarp. "Trying to muscle in on my job interview, are you? I thought you were _already_ employed."

"I can change jobs whenever I want," Skywarp countered. "Especially if I get a better offer from Tallysheet here."

Tallysheet said nothing, just turned and lounged against the bar, grinning.

"I didn't appreciate the way you bested my friend." The mech from Macaddam's kept staring at Skywarp. "I thought you were rather ungracious."

"But grace_ful_," Skywarp sniggered. "Which is more than can be said for your...friend." His drawl made it sound both insulting and suggestive. He realised he was going to have to do something to establish his superiority over this upstart. He couldn't let the mission go power bulges up. What would appeal most to Tallysheet – an apparently honourable mech, or one who let his natural Decepticon tendencies have full and free rein? Fighting might be one of the skills Tallysheet was shopping for. Skywarp decided to take a chance, though he had no intention of allowing Stomp's minions to guess his real identity from his unique talent.

He threw up his chin so that he could look down on the mech from Macaddam's, and corrugated his faceplates into the slightest sneer, as if he could hardly be bothered with his victim. "Winner takes the work, right?"

Behind him he heard Tallysheet murmur, "We'll see..."

"You _said_ it!" the mech barked. "Bring it on!"

_But you don't know who you're dealing with,_ Skywarp thought. _And you aren't going to find out, either!_ He grabbed the mech by the shoulders. The mech had no time to try to break his hold as Skywarp swung him round twice before launching him through a gap in the crowd towards the open section of wall.

The mech hit the ground in the alley outside and staggered backwards until he disappeared from sight.

"Do you wish me to make sure the job's done properly?" Skywarp asked Tallysheet. He didn't want to wander off in the middle of his "job interview", but he was now convinced that actions would speak louder than words where Stomp's minion was concerned.

"Bring me his right arm," Tallysheet said pleasantly, "and you'll have the job."

Skywarp preferred action to thought every time, and didn't like to think unduly hard about the consequences of his actions. Mostly there weren't any; it suited him well to work for Megatron. _But it isn't going to be easy to tear off a mech's right arm._ However, he executed a neat little bow aimed in Tallysheet's general direction and sauntered off after the mech from Macaddam's.

In the alley outside the Well of All Souls he found the mech beginning to stir from the denting his head had received on the wall of a nearby building.

"No, you don't!" Skywarp said, reaching down and thumping him hard in the face, so that his head snapped back against the metal of the wall. Where the mech had begun the rebooting process, all was now stilled, and his head slumped forward on his chest.

While TC was strong and thoughtful, and Starscream the fastest and craftiest of the trine, Skywarp had, over the vorns, amassed anatomical knowledge which, combined with his teleportation ability, had on many occasions allowed him to fight dirtier than his opponents, leading to their defeat. Now he called on that knowledge to not only get himself what he required, but also to deliver some damage to the mech which would render him unable to follow, cause a scene, or otherwise damage his chances of getting in with Tallysheet. He grabbed the shoulder, twisted and pressed into it at the same time. He felt something give in the top of the arm, and yanked as hard as he could. The arm came away in a rush of squirting energon which sprayed his paintwork. _Have to get that cleaned up quickly or it'll eat through the fake paint job and give me away._ He nearly lost his balance, but with some satisfaction he realised he'd managed to rupture a fuel line as he twisted the pins which joined the arm to the shoulder plate.

Recovering his balance he tucked the arm under his own and set off for the bar, hoping against hope that Tallysheet hadn't got fed up with waiting for him.

He needn't have worried. Tallysheet had his high-grade poised for a deep draught when he walked back in. He turned his head, nodded pleasantly to Skywarp, and eyed the arm crooked around his elbow. "Nice work," he murmured. "You're hired. Meet me here –" He gave Skywarp an address. "– At 09.00 hours tomorrow morning."

* * *

Starscream's optics irised narrower behind their protective toughened glass plates as he watched Chromia beckon a client into her workroom. He stood on the landing wishing she didn't have to do the things she'd been doing all morning, though she still seemed amused by the whole thing. And there had been a surprising amount more customers than the first day, following Thundercracker and Skywarp's "marketing exercise" the previous evening.

Evidently it had been wide-ranging as well as successful; the two Seekers had arrived back at their base very late. On debriefing them, Starscream had discovered that the word on the street was that Stomp had been extremely annoyed at the neutralisation of a very lucrative scheme. As a result, various shady characters of Decepticon and other affiliations were planning to visit to use Chromia's services. There were so many customers, in fact, that Chromia now had to offer strictly-timed appointments. _I never realised there were so many kinky mechs around, _Starscream thought, _but at least Chromia has an alias, or her reputation could be in shreds at the end of this! _

He leaned on the balcony which edged the landing, standing next to the anti-grav stairs, resting his chin on one hand, watching the door. He was alert for any danger to Chromia from her clients, or even prospective ones. He wasn't sure that that was part of a pimp's usual duties, but he wasn't going to let her get hurt. _Anyone_ who overstayed their welcome would be dealt with summarily.

The door slid open and two femmes entered. Starscream remembered that Chromia had said her unit would be arriving to assist her and to try to infiltrate Stomp's organisation from different angles. He quickly floated down the anti-grav stairs to greet them before they could say anything which might blow whatever cover they were thinking of adopting.

"'Morning, _ladies_, please follow me," he said briskly, before they could say anything, and led them into the meeting room.

They followed him without a word, the arrangement having been made by Chromia shortly after her arrival, using Starscream's comm. gear and an Autobot encryption system.

Starscream closed the door behind them before turning to face them. Unlike Chromia they hadn't augmented their chassis, though Firestar sported a Decepticon symbol and Moonracer had several decorative designs on her bodywork. Both had temporary paint jobs; Firestar was aqua and indigo, while Moonracer's shade had darkened to a deep green with burnt orange flashes, and matching orange paint on her lips. She was still pretty.

"I'm known as Shade here. Please use that designation, especially in the public rooms of this building." He clashed optics with Firestar, then stared pointedly at the Decepticon symbol in the middle of her chest. "So what's _your_ cover?"

She smiled sweetly at him, lifted her chin and said, "I'm just indulging in a little freelancing in my off-duty moments!"

Starscream frowned. "A Decepticon is never truly off-duty."

"Lighten up, _Shade_!"

"Just don't bite off more than you can chew with that disguise," he warned. "Er – what did you say your cover was?"

"I didn't." She opened her chest case and removed a datachip. "But it's as a supplier of perception-enhancing software. Name of Krystalshear." She swopped the chip from one hand to the other and back a few times.

"Aah! That might be an interesting gambit. Does it work?"

"Temporarily. Then it puts the user offline for a while."

"How does that work?"

"Uses up the user's energy source." She stood regarding him with her hands on her hips. "And erases all trace of itself from the system while they're offline. They'll end up in medbay."

"Who thought that up, Swindle?"

"Optimus came up with the original idea, and Wheeljack made it happen."

"I'm sure some of you Autobots have some Decepticon code in your programming," Starscream observed, doing his best not to gape. "Now I'm going to have to admire those two fraggers!"

Her slow grin told him she was enjoying his discomfiture.

He turned to Moonracer. "And you?"

"I felt this sudden urge to become a data smuggler. I'm to be known as Zoom."

"You'd better be careful, then, or Stomp might end up grabbing you along with Chromia."

"We've...taken precautions."

"Just as well." He turned towards the door. "I'll give you a quick tour of this base and show you your quarters, then –"

"Just an astrosec, Starscream," Firestar interjected. "Optimus sent us here to help, but we're not under your command as such. We'll co-operate with you, but we're here as equals, and Chromia is our commander, as normal. Let's just get that straight."

Starscream spread his hands in a throwaway gesture. "Fine. I think we all feel the same about co-operating with you Autobots, too. But you do want quarters, don't you?"

"Of course."

"Then quit objecting and come with me, Autobot! By the way, this is our meeting room, and it's okay to speak in here. I can't vouch for the public rooms, especially with Chromia's customers coming into the building. The private rooms are OK – we check them several times every day." He led them upstairs and pointed across the landing to indicate the comms room and the quarters he and his trine were using. Then he led them into a room containing two single berths and closed the door behind him. "These will be your quarters."

"Where's..._Argentea _recharging?"

"She's working right now."

"No, I mean, isn't she in with us?"

The question Starscream had hoped they wouldn't ask. But he wouldn't shirk answering it. Without hesitation he replied, "No, she's in with me, so that I can protect her from the target if he attacks here."

"Nice protocol," Firestar remarked.

Starscream shot her a look of pure poison, but said nothing. He was in uncharted territory, working with these Autobot femmes, but if his recent experiences had taught him anything it was when to keep quiet. So he changed the subject. He'd realised he was going to have a problem if they weren't actually under his command. "Look, we've all been working shifts, but I'll need to assign each of you to a shift as well for this base to function fully effectively."

"Well, what are they?" Firestar asked. "I mean, what shifts have you been working?"

She didn't argue about the principle of using shiftwork, Starscream noticed. He felt relieved that she hadn't challenged him. "I divided the day up into three shifts, with Thundercracker, Skywarp and myself each working one of them. I work the same one as Chromia so that I can protect her. I was going to suggest that each of you take one of the other shifts and buddy up with whoever you share your shift with, either Thundercracker or Skywarp. Maybe establish digital communication channels and suchlike."

"Why can't we work the same shift?" Moonracer asked, indicating Firestar and herself. "We're used to working together."

"I know, but that's not going to be possible here. Thundercracker and Skywarp are used to working together, but they're each perfectly willing to work with one of you temporarily."

"Well, why can't _we_ work together?"

"Because TC and 'Warp aren't working together now, either." Starscream allowed air to slide through his intakes and summoned all his reserves of patience. "They can't be seen together now that they've begun the process of infiltrating Stomp's organisation, since he's already seen all three of us, or he might realise what's going on. And they could be recognised despite their disguises. For the same reason, you can't be seen together. And by the way, I'll need you to help a bit around the base, as well as making contacts for yourselves," Starscream warned them.

Moonracer pouted. "Don't you have cleaning drones for that?"

"Of course." Starscream cycled air in exasperation. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Well, what _did_ you mean, then?" She stared at him. "Firestar and I are good agents, and _helping around the base _isn't an appropriate use of our talents!"

"I meant...you know, I'll need to assign some mission errands to you. Like checking for bugs and – "

"Just an astrosec, Starscream. What about either of us being seen with either of your wingmates? Wouldn't that blow our cover?"

So she'd known exactly what he'd been talking about all along. "Maybe not as much as being seen together would, since nobody's going to be expecting that. At least for now."

From the hall came the sound of the front door rolling open and then shut again. Starscream opened the door and stepped out onto the landing, followed by the two Autobot femmes. The sound of footsteps could be heard as someone crossed the hall. A few astroseconds later Chromia's head appeared in the well of the anti-grav stairs, followed by the rest of her body as she emerged onto the landing. She made straight for them, pushing all of them, including Starscream, back into the room and shutting the door firmly behind her.

"Thanks for contacting me for clarification, Moonracer," she said. "But I'm going to pull rank on you, for once. You're here to do a job, the same as I am. Just get on with it and don't argue about it."

Starscream watched her in astonishment, slowly closing his mouth as he realised that this was the other side of Chromia, the action femme giving crisp instructions to her troops. _She's certainly made of tough metal,_ he thought. Although this was a new side of her, it fitted with what he already knew of her, he realised.

And the sudden heat in his frame was telling him something else. He admired her even more for her strength of character in time of need.

* * *

There was a knock at the door of Optimus's private office. He looked up from the plans he'd been engrossed in. "Come in."

Bumblebee opened the door enough to put his head inside the room. "You sent for me, sir?"

Spike could be seen below and beside him.

"Yes, I have a scouting mission for you." Optimus made optic contact with Spike before meeting Bumblebee's optics again. "Just you, Bumblebee."

Optimus had seen enough human expressions, and had known Spike long enough to assess his disappointment simply from the look on his face. He expelled air through his intakes. "I'm sorry, Spike," he said, as gently as he could, since he knew the lad's enthusiasm for and commitment to the Autobot cause was as great as his own. "This is just too dangerous for a human, especially a young one with his whole life ahead."

"But not too dangerous for Bumblebee, the youngest amongst you, to risk _his_ life?" Spike countered, staring up at Optimus.

"Bumblebee...is a skilled scout," Optimus muttered.

"Spike...does have the advantage of not being visible on scanners, except those that operate on visual wavelengths, and laser alarms," Bumblebee pointed out.

Optimus could detect a distinct note of hope in his voice. "True." He was glad of the concealment his blast mask offered. In his dealings with the humans he had only too often become aware of the conflict within his emotions. "But he's still very young, and if anything happened to him I couldn't forgive myself – besides, you don't yet know what I'm going to ask you to do."

Bumblebee dipped his head in submission. "Is it all right for Spike to be here as well?" he asked. "He is my friend."

"It's probably best not," Optimus said. "If he knows and the Decepticons find him, they might torture him to find out."

"They might torture me even if I didn't know," Spike muttered.

"Also true," Optimus acknowledged. "But at least they wouldn't find out what we were up to if you didn't know." He met the human's gaze. "I'm sorry, Spike. We just can't risk this. For your own sake, and for the success of the mission." He hesitated. "And for the sake of your father, whom I count a good friend, as well."

"Sure, Optimus." Spike nodded cheerfully. "I understand." And he backed away from the door. "Catch you later, 'Bee."

"Later, Spike," Bumblebee responded, as if on autopilot. Optimus saw he was watching to make sure Spike had gone before stepping into the room so the door could close behind him. "So, Optimus, what's the mission?"

"I want you to go to Cybertron, to Vector Sigma, and find out about the status of its defences. We need detailed information. It goes without saying that I don't want Megatron to know about this, so keep it to yourself. He doesn't need to know since he's not involved in the actual acquisition of personalities for the femmes, though I can't help but wonder if he has something up his sleeve to confound us all."

"Understood, sir." Bumblebee stood up very straight, as if he expected to be dismissed. "When do you want me to go?"

"Now. Use the Space Bridge. I've fixed that with Megatron. I told him you're going to Cybertron to liaise with Ironhide over his detachment – the token group that will be fighting with Megatron against Stomp."

"That sounds fine. Is Ironhide in Iacon at present?"

"Yes, you'll find him at our base there. Report to him first, then he'll cover for you should the Decepticons...make inquiries...while you're gone to Vector Sigma."

* * *

Starscream was leaning over the balcony at the edge of the landing when the entrance to Chromia's workroom opened.

A large green mech staggered out into the vestibule.

Chromia followed him and indicated one of the chairs. "You might wish to rest here for a few astroseconds," she said, and then, looking along the row of chairs at her prospective customers, added, "Who's next?"

"Me, I think," came the answer from a brown mech. He got up and followed Chromia into her workroom.

The other occupants of the waiting room were a diminutive red mech and a mech with blue limbs and head mounted on a grey-brown chassis. The small red mech took one look at the large green mech sprawled, still quivering, on his chair, got shakily to his feet and headed towards the door.

"Heh, some mechs are such cowards!" Starscream murmured, watching Chromia's previous customer lurch to his feet and leave the building at last. Stepping back from the railing and resuming his place beside the top of the anti-grav stairs, Starscream noticed that Firestar and Moonracer stood regarding him from the doorway of the room he'd assigned to them.

"What's with him?" Firestar indicated Starscream with a careless flip of her thumb.

"Dunno. Sulking, most likely," Moonracer suggested.

He was about to deliver a cutting retort when he realised how familiar the sole remaining mech in the waiting room was. He took a closer look at him. The Decepticon logo was prominently displayed on his chassis.

The mech took one look up at Starscream and whined, "I might have known this was something to do with you –"

As soon as Starscream heard his voice he recognised Crankcase. He shot down the stairs and across the hallway, seized him, and slammed him against the wall, twisting one arm up behind his back and covering his mouth with his other hand.

"Nnnn nnn nnn!" Crankcase said.

"Do you have an appointment?" Starscream demanded.

Crankcase nodded.

"With Argentea?"

Crankcase nodded again, then managed to free himself enough to say, "That's Chr–"

Starscream stepped back and fired his null ray before Crankcase could say anything else. The other Decepticon collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Chromia had evidently heard the commotion, because she emerged from her workroom looking around the lobby. [What's going on?]

Starscream indicated the fallen Crankcase. [Got a spare restraint? I can't let him leave here or he could go straight to Stomp with information about you and who you are.]

[But we want Stomp to take the bait –]

[But we don't want him to know who you are, and Crankcase has recognised you. If Crankcase has realised that an Autobot female is working with three Decepticons, he could tell Stomp and he'd be bound to smell a trap. And I just can't jeopardise the mission.]

[I see what you mean.] Chromia disappeared into her workroom for a moment, reappearing with an inhibitor claw and spare chains. [I'd better go back. I've still got my client in there.] She thought for a moment, then added, [If he asks, I'll just tell him someone in the waiting room started a fight.] Chromia went back into her workroom again.

Starscream signalled Thundercracker and Skywarp digitally. [Help me get Crankcase downstairs into the basement. We can keep him there for a couple of orns, then once we know how far Stomp's organisation extends, release him somewhere else a long way from here, where he can't do any harm to our mission.]

Crankcase was heavy, having been solidly built even before his renovation by Megatron. They found an old trolley and loaded him onto it, then fitted the inhibitor claw. In the end it was easier to bind him to the trolley and push it into the gravity stairs to get him into the cellar.

Returning to the ground floor, Starscream called Firestar over into the meeting room. "I want one of you two on guard here at all times now," he ordered, explaining what had happened. "We don't want him escaping and telling tales to Stomp."

Firestar lifted her chin. "And what about your boys, _Shade_? Aren't they going to take their turns guarding your prisoner?"

"Of course they are. Did you buddy up with them?"

Firestar nodded. "I'm partnering Skywarp and Moonracer is partnering Thundercracker."

"Excellent. Then for each onbase shift one partner will spend half their time guarding Crankcase. That should allow us to get other essential things done."

"Does that include you?" Firestar demanded.

"I'm out here in the lobby most of the time, making sure the clients behave themselves," Starscream pointed out. "But I can watch the cellar at the same time."

* * *

Starscream had been watching Moonracer enter each of the private rooms in turn, checking for listening devices. She seemed to have done a very thorough job. "Ah – Zoom, are you busy?" he asked, as she came off-shift.

Moonracer looked up as he strolled across the atrium. "It's my rest period now – I'll be on duty downstairs afterwards...Why?"

"I just wanted to ask a favour," Starscream said, indicating that she should enter the meeting room. He made the gesture as urgent as he could, and even held the door so that she couldn't ignore him.

Moonracer looked up at him, her whole expression a question. As soon as the door closed behind them she murmured, "My, you must want this favour really badly, to actually deign to show some manners!"

Starscream bit back the sarcastic retort that rose to his lips and forced a mild tone as he replied, "There's nothing wrong with my behavioural programs. I just choose to ignore them most of the time." He seated himself and indicated that she should do the same. "Actually, I've had a Eureka moment, and wanted to share it with you."

"Why?"

Starscream leant closer, consciously trying _not_ to look intimidating for once. He wanted this to work. "Have you had any ideas about how you're going to make contact with Stomp?"

She shook her head.

"I've been thinking about your cover, trying to find an effective way to use it to penetrate Stomp's organisation," he said. "And I think I've found what you need."

"What _I_ need?" she demanded.

"Well, I have something that _I_ need too, so we might be able to help each other."

"You...! I can't believe I'm hearing this – you pretend to be sweet on Chromia and now you're propositioning _me_!" Moonracer got up as if to leave the room.

"I'm not _propositioning_ you! Sit down and listen!" Starscream hissed. His ire was thoroughly aroused now, but he knew he had to keep calm enough to explain and persuade the silly femme to do what he wanted. He felt agitated. _I've had so little contact with femmes for so long that I've lost the persuasive edge I once had,_ he thought. _No wonder I'm not getting anywhere with Chromia!_

Moonracer subsided onto her chair again.

"Listen. You need to make contact with Stomp. I need to make contact with Cardsharp –"

"Why?"

Starscream sat up a little straighter. "Can I trust you, Moonracer?" He stared into her optics, their strengthened glass as blue as Chromia's. "My cover is as an ex-gladiator with an eye for picking a winner, and my part of the mission is to penetrate the organisation via the betting and illegal sports arm. Make a few energon credits."

"Was that your idea or Megatron's?"

"Joint effort," Starscream retorted. "Shush and listen, will you?"

Moonracer sat up and mirrored his posture, folding one arm across her middle, supporting her chin on the other hand, head tilted.

Starscream allowed a sigh to ghost through his intakes. "Why are you Autobot femmes so irritating?" He shifted posture again, crossing one leg. "Don't answer that, it was a rhetorical question...I have a problem, and it's been exercising my ingenuity ever since we got here."

"Personal hygiene?"

Starscream chose to ignore that. "Stomp knows me. I – and my illustrious colleagues – stole his captive femmes. He heard me speak. Obviously," he indicated his temporary paint job, "I have a fake identity and so on, but I can't disguise my voice. It's too distinctive. On Earth the internet would be the obvious solution, but the war has destroyed so much of Cybertron's infrastructure that that isn't an option. All of which means I can't place any bets."

"What a shame." Her voice held no trace of emotion, but there was no mistaking the sarcasm.

"Moonracer, if you can place my bets for me in your Zoom identity, you'll be noticed. You can say you're freelancing, and you'll get your entrée into the organisation." Starscream leant a little closer again, putting out a hand in appeal. "They'll see that you're an efficient courier, and that you'll make an excellent addition to their team. You're in!"

Moonracer considered him. "What happens to your profits, assuming you actually win anything? Do I get a share?"

Starscream was taken aback for a moment, then laughed. "Touché. After all, it _is_ a co-operative effort."

"Fifty-fifty?"

"Twenty-eighty. The skill in choosing who to bet on will come from me, you're just placing the bets."

"But you can't place them without me. You said so yourself."

Starscream's sigh this time was more of a gust than a ghost. "I suppose I did. How about thirty-seventy?"

"How about fifty-fifty?"

"Megatron'll kill me." He thought hard for a moment, then said, "Actually, I've got a better idea. Why not place some bets of your own and give me a cut instead?"

Moonracer's optics narrowed. "What sort of cut?"

"Thirty-seventy?"

Moonracer's expression changed to one of outrage. "You want thirty percent of _my_ winnings?"

"You wanted fifty percent of mine." Starscream huffed deeply. "Look, you can't place bets without my information."

"And you can't place bets at all without me to speak for you!" Moonracer looked thoughtful for a moment. Then she held out her hand. "All right, Starscream, I'll place your bets for you. It _is_ a good idea."

"And the information will be worth your while," Starscream reminded her as they shook hands. "And don't forget, in that _feminist_ processor of yours, we'll both be exploiting Stomp. Think of it as revenge for what he's done to those poor femmes over the vorns."

"I'm not really into revenge, but – I think you're right." Moonracer got up and left the room.

Starscream smiled to himself when she'd gone. _I reckon that's what the humans would call killing two birds with one stone, _he thought.

_Apologies to all my faithful readers for the delay in finishing and posting this chapter - I've been very unwell and haven't been able to sit for long at a computer. An operation last November has improved matters somewhat, but not totally. But today is a good day. 'Til all are one!_


End file.
